Youngest: The Physician and The Tyrant
by Komizi
Summary: "There was no getting around how strange it was to find a nineteenth century relic in one's attic. All the same, I knew my interest was turning into an obsession. I just couldn't escape the feeling that there was more to this Police Box then met the eye."
1. Chapter 1

It was the summer of 2014. We were excited for the move. Afterall, we were leaving nothing behind. It was good to start fresh. I stared out the car window at the fields of tall grass flowing by. It had been such a long drive.

A small mumble drew my gaze from the window to where my little brother's head lay in my lap. I gently pet his soft brown hair and he sighed in his sleep. Dan was eight, but despite the seven-year age gap, we had always shared a special bond.

My twin sisters were sleeping too – curled together in the seats in front of us so that they were barely distinguishable from each other. From the front of the minivan our mom snored softly in the passenger's seat. I caught my dad's eye in the rearview mirror. He gestured silently toward my mom and wiggled his eyebrows. I had to cover my face to mute my snorting laugh.

By the time people started waking up we had traveled out of the countryside and into a more tree-y land. We ooh-ed and ah-ed at tall trees that bent over the winding road, creating a fairy-like tunnel.

When we got bored of the view my brother pulled out the stuffed animals. For this, my sisters woke up more fully, turning around in their seats to reach back and play. At seventeen, Cassie and Aleah really had outgrown their toys, but stuffed animals where something we all took part in. It was an unspoken pact, from since we were little, that the playing of stuffed animals would never be abandoned.

"Soon as we're half settled, we need to finally perform 'Hamlet'." Aleah said excitedly. She pushed her silky blond hair behind her ear.

"We still haven't finished casting," Cassie reminded. She was almost falling over the back of her seat to reach the dog, Mr. Fluffypoo.

"It's really just Ophelia," Aleah shrugged. "And Adalyn and I both think it should be Sophie."

"Do you really?" Cassie turned to me.

"I do," I confirmed. "I really think she fits the role."

"That cat," Cas sniffed in mock snobbery, "lacks the class to be Ophelia. It should indubitably be Lady Bear." She referred to one of our oldest teddys.

"Who lacks passion!" I countered. Our parents giggled in the front seats at the serious proceedings in the rear of the car.

I continued dramatically. "Ophelia should be a woman whose words move the soul; whose countenance inspires –"

"Guys, look!" our dad interrupted us. We followed his pointed finger as we cleared the trees and saw a mansion on a huge estate in the clearing.

We all gaped at the sight.

"That can't possibly be… That's not ours, is it?" Aleah's eyes were wide.

Dad grinned. "Told you it was huge." He continued on the road, but it didn't lead directly to the house. It wound back and forth, exploring the surrounding area, before at long last reaching the mansion.

As soon as the van was in park we were leaping out of the car to see.

"Oh it's gorgeous!" I said exultantly, "So many trees! So much space!" I threw my arms open and spun around taking it in.

"It's so secluded." Aleah noted happily. Cassie put her arm around her twin supportively.

"It'll be a new start for all of us," my mom said, putting her arms around both girls. I saw her and my dad share a look. I hadn't seen him so full of hope in so long.

"Well!" my dad rubbed his hands together, "should we unpack and then explore, or explore and then unpack?"

We four kids looked at each for one mischievous second, then took off running.

"No fair!" my dad yelled behind us, but we were already inside.

We gasped at the beauty of the place and walked around slowly, feeling a sort of reverence for this new house. Under a layer of dust were glossy wood floors. The front room had grand windows. Around the first corner was a spiraling staircase.

"Adalyn." Cassie whispered and poked my side. I looked over and she nodded toward a window. Our parents stood under a tree, holding hands and speaking softly together.

"They look so happy."

I smiled and linked arms with her. "Yeah."

We continued exploring the house for another hour, then finally got down to the work of unpacking.

We'd brought all the boxes in and I'd spent the last twenty minutes setting up my room.

"Hey kiddo,"

I turned and saw my dad poking his head in the room.

"We're putting together a dinner on boxes. Come down in five?"

"Yep. Thanks!" I answered.

He left, and I hurried to finish the box I was working on. I surveyed my room. That would have to do for tonight. I pushed the remaining boxes against the wall and the floor boards creaked. This wouldn't have fazed me except that the whole time I hadn't found one squeaky board in the house.

I moved the box out from the wall and stepped lightly on the floor boards. They not only creaked, they moved. When I bent down and pressed again, one end came completely loose. I pried gently on it and was able to remove the panel.

_Very cool. _There was a small space beneath, empty except for a tiny key. I picked it up and was surprised when it was warm. I stuck my hand in the space, but the air was cool.

"Weird."

I looked at the key more closely, but it was ordinary. Remarkably ordinary.

"Aaaadalyyyyyn!" Aleah called from down the hall.

Startled, I dropped the key back in the hole and shoved the box back over the space.

"Coming!" I called back.

We all sat on small boxes around the coffee table to eat our dinner of sausage, cheese and bread.

"As we were unpacking we kept finding things the last owners left behind." Cassie shared.

"Us to!" My mom said. "A couple small poetry books in the closet, a beautiful old washbasin in the bathroom. I'll show you after we're done eating."

"Cool! We just found knick-knacks."

"Don't forget the hat!" Aleah reminded.

"What kind of hat?" Dan asked.

"A feathery one!" Aleah said triumphantly.

"Ophelia can wear it!" Dad suggested.

"Nooo!" "That's a terrible idea!" "So inauthentic!" we all talked on top of each other.

"Well you guys are just boring." He pretended to sulk. He picked up his dishes and stood. Kissing the top of my mom's head, he said, "I'm gonna go get the sleeping bags from the car."

"Did you guys find anything?" Aleah asked me and Dan.

Dan shook his head as his mouth was full. Aleah looked at me.

"No." Why did I say that? "Yes! I found a key. Under some floor boards that lift."

"Ooo! Exciting!" Cassie said.

"Maybe it's an extra house key," Dan speculated.

"Yeah, I'll have to give it a test." For some reason I just didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Let's kids all sleep in the same room! Just tonight: sleepover party."

Over the next several days we finished the bulk of unpacking, though our parents were still putting up curtains and pictures. We continued exploring the grounds and got back into our old habits of reading and studying together.

There was no denying we were an abnormal family. Our mom was a historian and our dad was a scientist. They had met in Asia on their respective research trips and fallen in love. They went back to the U.S. together, got married, and started a family, instilling in their children the love of knowledge that they both had. Now we were all incorrigible academics.

One night, weeks after the move, I was lying in bed, just thinking and staring at the ceiling. Maybe the moon was especially bright that night, or maybe I hadn't really looked at the ceiling yet, but I saw something I hadn't noticed before. There were lines in the ceiling, suggestive of a trap door. Suddenly awake and curious, I scrambled out of the covers and stood on the bedframe to reach it. Sure enough, it was a door. I tugged on the edge and it opened silently and let down a collapsible ladder.

Excitedly, I grabbed a flashlight, climbed up and looked at the space around me. There was a tiny room with a low roof. It was probably built for storage, but I knew what I wanted it for.

Within minutes I had moved my beanbag and a small selection of books up and arranged the attic space into the cutest reading nook ever.

I loved that nook. I rarely kept secrets from Dan – he usually guessed them anyway – but I decided it would be fun to keep this spot to myself just for a little while, especially when I discovered a network of tunnels branching out from the tiny room.

The tunnels never really went anywhere, and I had to be careful not to get lost. I marked the tunnels as I went but there always seemed to be new paths. I always brought string, remembering the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. On one of these occasions I was crawling through a new tunnel and noted how there were never any cobwebs, or dust. I wondered if any living thing had been through these tunnels since they were built. I put my hand down in front of me and it passed through air. I yelped loudly, falling on my stomach. The tunnel had ended, and it ended in a drop off. Shakily, I shone the flashlight in front of me to see into the space.

"I could have died," I whispered to myself. I scooted cautiously to the edge and peered down, half expecting to see skeletons in a deep abyss. In fact, it was not a huge drop.

"Ok, so I wouldn't have died from the fall, just of starvation when I couldn't get out and no one could find me. Fabulous." I laughed nervously.

There was something in the room, like a huge box. The flashlight was weak, though, and I couldn't make out anything about it.

After squinting at it for a while more, I decided to go back. I turned and followed the string backwards, making sure to mark each split in the tunnel as I came back through it.

_A ladder_, I thought, _No, a rope ladder_. Dan had a rope ladder. I got back to reading nook and peeked through the ceiling hatch, listening for anyone in the hall, before dropping down onto my bed. I checked in the mirror for stray signs of my escapade, then ran out of my room and down the hall to Dan's.

I listened at the door a second before quietly tapping our secret knock on the door. I heard a scramble toward the door then a whispered,

"Speak friend and enter."

I rolled my eyes, but in my deepest voice replied, "Melon."

The door cracked open and I slipped inside.

"Ya know, the point of the secret knock is that you already know it's me."

"Well, yeah, but I'm putting up my Middle Earth maps."

"Ooo!" I exclaimed, momentarily distracted by the pile of maps and manuscripts on Dan's bed.

"That," my brother laughed, "was such an Aleah reaction."

I laughed sheepishly. "So true." Aleah was one of those glorious "ooh shiny" distractible people. Back in our old town, that, plus her natural beauty, led a lot of people to believe she was unintelligent and emotionally shallow. It couldn't be further from the truth, but it hurt Aleah so much that she let them believe it, eventually only showing her true self to us.

I shook off those thoughts and picked up a map.

"Where's this one going?"

"Under the one of Beleriand."

I held it up on the wall and he tacked it up.

"Thanks, Adalyn."

"Of course."

"This one here," he pointed, and I held up another map for him.

"Hey," I ventured, "can I borrow your rope ladder?"

"Of course."

"Thanks!"

We worked quietly for a bit before he asked,

"Did you find a tree?"

I hesitated. I wasn't ready to tell my secret.

"Something like that."

"I see!" Dan smirked at me.

"I'll tell you later, I promise," I hurried to explain.

He brushed away my concern, "I know you will."

I went back through the tunnels with the rope ladder, flashlight, and some sturdy hooks. I screwed the hooks into the floor at the drop off, connected the ladder securely and climbed down. The rope was only six feet long and the drop was almost ten feet, so I had to hop off at the bottom. I shone my flashlight around. The room was only about ten feet by fifteen feet. The only thing in the room was the box, but it commanded all my attention.

It was maybe nine feet high by four feet wide and long. I ran my hand over wood detail. A shiver of excitement ran down my spine.

"Police Telephone," I read the plaque on the front of the box, "free for use of public…" I opened the little door and an old fashioned phone fell out.

A smile spread over my face. This was completely charming. I picked up the phone and pushed some buttons, but it was, of course, completely dead. I put it back carefully and closed the door.

I circled the Police Box. "This is brilliant." I said aloud. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I jumped, trying to look through the tiny windows on top, but I couldn't see anything. Peeking through the keyhole with my flashlight I decided it couldn't be too hard to pick.

I hurried back up the ladder, giddy with excitement. This was the coolest thing I'd found yet and I was going to get inside.


	2. Chapter 2

I knocked on my sisters' door.

"Enter!"

I poked my head in. Both my sisters were absorbed in one book, lying on their stomachs on the bed next to each other, their blond hair mingling together as their heads bent down over the pages.

"Hi, can I borrow your laptop for a bit?"

"Yup," they responded in unison. They hadn't even heard my question.

"Thanks!" I snatched the computer off the desk and tried to dash away.

"Hey hey wait a sec," Cassie looked up, "What do you want it for?"

"Research."

"Oh." She shrugged and both of them buried their heads in the book again. "Let me know if you learn anything interesting."

I saluted and ran.

Safe in my room, I began researching police telephone boxes. I1 found that they were first invented in the late 1800s in England. They were meant to be like miniature police stations – used by police to communicate with other police, and, if there was trouble, to flash the light on top as a call for help.

The next job was to break in. I read up on lock picking and went to work, starting with my pocket knife and working my way through several screwdrivers and picks, breaking a few in the process. I had no luck.

I resigned myself to not getting in for now and turned to cleaning the box. It was strange that the room, like the tunnels, didn't have a speck of dust, but the box itself was coated with what must have been a century of grime. I polished the windows until they shone, but they were still too opaque to see through. I worked for weeks on the wood, slowly revealing brilliant blue paint.

I continued to wonder about how the box had gotten there. There was no getting around how strange it was to find a nineteenth century relic in one's attic, but even weirder was that the box was too big to fit through the tunnels, so the room must have built around it. I couldn't resist a good mystery and I fell deeper and deeper into this one. It wasn't just historic curiosity, though. I had the inexplainable feeling that there something more to this Police Box than met the eye. It had a preternatural feeling about it. I even started having dreams about it – mostly dreams where I figured out how to open the door.

I spent a lot of time in that room. Besides cleaning and unsuccessful lock-picking, I liked to draw pictures of it. I drew everything from diagrams, to pictures of it on 1800s London streets, to pictures inspired by my dreams. Bit by bit the walls of the room became covered with my artwork.

After dinner I snuck into the box room with my art kit. My colored pencils were a smorgasbord compiled from several sets. It had started with one of my mom's old sets that she put in my stocking one Christmas. My mom had considered being an artist before she decided to study history and mythology. She still loved drawing though, and her works were brilliant. When I showed an interest in art she did everything she could to encourage me. Thus, my colored pencil collection had expanded over the years to contain almost every shade imaginable. This box of pencils was one of my most treasured possessions.

I rolled out a large piece of paper, stretched out on the floor, and started. After an hour, the box had taken on every shade of blue. One melded into another, giving the appearance of it fading in and out of the light. I kept looking up at the Police Box.

_It's just a box._

I sighed and pushed away my work. Standing, I put my hand against the door of the Police Box. Was it my imagination, or was there warmth radiating from it?

I stepped back and turned away. I knew this was getting out of hand. I'd known for a while that my interest was turning into obsession, but now I'd let my imagination run away. I was obsessed with an idea and now I was beginning to believe it was true.

I drew my hands over my face. I had to get out.

I packed up my pencil box and held it against my chest, climbing up the rope ladder with one hand. I crawled back through the tunnel until I came to the first split where I paused.

_P.B. _The scrap of paper that I'd written forever ago to mark the way to the Police Box. I stared for a moment, then with determination ripped it off the wall and crumpled it in my fist. I did the same at every split.

That night I had the most powerful dreams I'd ever had. I was standing on nothing – like space without stars. I couldn't move. There was nothing to move through. Then I saw the box in the distance. I took one step and I was in front of it, opening the door. Light burst out of door and in a moment, I was standing in a galaxy of stars. I breathed out doubt, I breathed in life.

I woke up standing on my bed. I didn't think, I took my pencil box and went up. I crawled through the unmarked tunnels and didn't once hesitate at the splits. I came down into the room, spread out a piece of paper, and drew what I'd seen.

That was it. After that there was no going back. All that occupied my thoughts day and night was the box. I knew my family was worrying about me, so I wasn't surprised when late one night I heard the secret knock on my bedroom door.

I opened the door to Dan.

"Hey."

"Hey," he responded.

I opened the door wider and we sat on the bed together. We just sat in silence. After forever I spoke.

"How worried are they?"

"Pretty worried. I think they're gonna talk to you about it tomorrow."

I nodded.

After more silence, I said, "I'm sorry."

Dan looked at me thoughtfully.

"I'm not actually sure what's gotten in to me. It just feels weird somehow, to tell my secret." I gaged his expression. "It's not anything bad, you know."

"Nobody thinks that. They're just worried."

I nodded.

After a while, I said, "I'll tell you tomorrow. No, I'll show everyone."

Dan beamed at me. "Great!"

He hopped off the bed. I slid off too, and we hugged.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said.

"See ya." I was surprised by the feeling of lightness in my chest. I hadn't realized how heavily keeping a secret from them had been weighing on me.

That night I dreamed again. I was standing in the box room, staring at a collection of broken knives and picks littering the floor.

"Did you think to try the key?"

I turned and saw Dan, raising one eyebrow as if I'd forgotten the most obvious thing in the world.

I woke up. And I remembered the key I'd found. Heart pounding, I jumped out of bed and bounded to my desk. I opened my box of knickknacks and rummaged through until I found the key I'd found in the floorboards. I hesitated, key in hand. What about my family? Should I wait until I've told them?

I thought about waking Dan but decided against it. There was no need because the key wouldn't fit. I'd just pop in and satisfy my suspicion then go back to bed.

I went up into the attic and crawled quickly through the tunnels and down the rope ladder. I just wanted to put this thing to rest. When I saw the box again I had to struggle not to be overwhelmed by all my fantasies surrounding it. I took a deep breath and pulled out the key. It was very warm, almost hot. I carefully slid it into the lock and the door clicked. Trembling slightly, I stepped inside.

It was only dark for an instant, then there was a low electrical hum followed by a flood of warm light. I blinked in shock at the room around me. It was huge – at least twenty times as big as the outside of the box. My skin was alive with goosebumps as I took it in. In the center of the room was a console of buttons and levers and at the center of the console was a clear blueish tube from which came a low thrumming. The walls were metal and domed and covers in round things. There were twisted pillars like trees throughout the room and a staircase to underneath the console. The whole place seemed to glow with life. My breath caught, and tears pricked my eyes. It was real. It was more real than I could have imagined.

In a daze, I moved into the center of the room to inspect the tube and console. It was an engine of some sort, of that much I was certain, but it was far more sophisticated than anything I'd ever seen or heard of. I put a hand out to touch the what seemed to be the core of it. The engine got louder and I had a sensation, like warm water, running through my arm. I gasped and pulled away.

A strange urge popped into my head, as if someone else had put it there.

_Push the flashing blue button._

I looked down and saw the button presumably in question.

"No way." I backed away.

The engine moaned, and I got the distinct impression that it was becoming impatient with me.

I tentatively touched the engine again and got the same sensation as before.

"Are you…alive?" I whispered, feeling very foolish.

It hummed contentedly in response. I laughed incredulously. I thought about taking apart the console to learn more about it, but if this was some sort of artificial intelligence that might not be the wisest idea. Besides, I still felt the strange pull to this thing that I'd had before I got inside. Recklessly, I pushed the blue button.

It stopped flashing. Nothing happened. I wasn't sure what I'd expected, but I'd expected something.

"Hello!"

I screamed and fell on my butt. Shakily, I picked myself up quickly and ran around to the other side of the console where the voice had come from. There was a man. He was lanky and stupidly handsome, despite a ridiculous hair style, and he stood with his hands in the pockets of his brown pin-striped suit.

"Hello?" I ventured nervously.

"Hello!"

"Sorry, is this y-"

"Hello!"

I stared at him curiously. He shimmered, like tv static, and I suddenly realized he was only some kind of computer-generated image.

I laughed so hard then, I almost fell over again.

"Hello!"

"Hold up!" I gasped between laughs, "let's see if I can fix that."

I looked over the console but didn't recognize anything, so I went for the good old turn it off and turn it on again. I pushed the blue button and the voice on the other side of the engine stopped. I pushed it again.

"Hello! I guess it's time!"

I smiled at my success and ran around the console to see him.

"Well, time. Yeah…how long's it been anyway? Well, that's not important. What's important is here you are and here I am. Where'd she end up hiding anyway? I hope it was nice. 'Specially if it's been a while." Here his voice dropped to a conspiratorial level. "The old girl can get grouchy, you know. All the same," loud and jovial again, "It was nice of you to do this. I thought about asking my friend Toby, but he was laid up. Pregnancy, you know. Oh, I can't wait to see those kids swim! Although actually, not having hands might have made it a difficult task for him, come to think of it. Never entrust your TARDIS to a bloke without hands. I'm not being racist! Just, you know…fish. Oh! Speaking of fish, did you ever get that blackberry jelly? I know that was a while ago – and Ethiopia – but I really need it to fix the TARDIS' data coils. She is _really _in need of a tune up, but don't tell her I said so. Only makes her fussy. Also, and I'm really sorry, I have a confession to make. Please don't be mad. I accidentally gave Polly a love potion – some wizard chap in 1400s England gave it to me – and she ran off with another hermit crab. I'm sorry. But I promise you they'll be happy. As clams. Despite being hermit crabs. Did I ever tell you about the time I met the king of the crabs? Turned out he was just a bloke who'd been cursed into being a crab. Although I'll tell you, looked better as a crab if you asked me. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was that I left my coat at the cleaner's. Please pick it up on April the twenty-first, 1989 at 2:04 precisely. Janis Joplin gave me that coat, so it's important to me. Speaking of important, did you ever look at those sticks I gave you? Chappa was very insistent that you look at them. I told him I was much better at deciphering Nordawacian twigs, but he was adamant that it be you. Honestly, I think he fancies you. He showed me some poetry, though he didn't tell me who it was for. It was one of the worst things I've ever read – and that's saying something, considering I've met Scott Fitzgerald – but I told him he was a regular Shakespeare and he took it as a compliment, although I don't think the Nordawacs have heard of him before. I may have started something. Willy never would believe just how many planets his works have reached."

My jaw was hanging open, but it didn't even register with me.

"Have you met William yet? You really should, he's brilliant, in all senses of the word. Also, you need to visit Apalapucia." He smiled and his smile was gorgeous. "Gosh that's a fun word to say. The place is gorgeous. Gardens and gardens and gardens. But no one goes there because it's only the second most popular holiday spot in the universe. Which of course makes it perfect for all you introverts! Well anyway, thanks again for taking care of her. Catch you later."

The message ended, and the image disappeared, but before I could consider what I'd heard he reappeared.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Push the green button for instruction!" It turned off again.

I took a deep breath. "Wow." I didn't know what to do, so I went ahead and pushed the flashing green button.

The man reappeared.

"So, it's all set for the return trip. Just pull the wibbly lever (the one under the gong) and then you'll have about a minute before she takes off." It turned off.

That was it. though the first message had been overwhelming, this one was perfectly clear. This vehicle, or whatever it was, clearly belonged to someone else and that someone else wanted it back. The thought made me physically ill.

I shut my eyes. I wished I was the kind of person who could say "finders keepers" and move on without guilt, but I wasn't. I had to let it go.

"At least let me see a little more," I asked the TARDIS, for that's what this box was, I realized.

She hummed her assent and opened up another door, leading me further in.

I spent hours exploring her rooms. She was so beautiful and held such wonders. And always she talked to me. Never out loud, but gently nudging my mind. It should have felt strange, but after all that time sitting with her in my attic it was like finally meeting a good friend you've only ever written to.

As the night was ending she led me back to the first room.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye," I murmured.

I could feel her sympathy. I sat down and cried for myself and my loss. But finally I stood and went to the console.

"One minute, yeah?" I put my hand over the wibbly lever.

"Goodbye, then. Thanks for everything."

I pulled the lever down hard and bolted for the door. As I reached it though, the doors closed. I pulled on them, but they didn't budge. The TARDIS was making so much noise and it started to shake.

"No!" I pulled harder, but I was losing my footing. The TARDIS jerked and I fell to the ground. That's when I saw him.

I'd never had visions before; my only dreams happened when I was asleep. But now my mind was flooded with images of the man in the message. I saw him glowing with power. I saw him burning with anger. I saw horrifying beasts cowering in front of him, armies of monsters running at the sight of him. Burning, drowning, yelling, while he stood and watched. I saw what he was and I was terrified.

When I could see my surrounding again, I realized the box was still shaking, I crawled over to the console and looked over the screens, the buttons, anything that could help. I saw a dial with numbers, spinning. It was counting down. _2011, 2010, 2009… _they started going down faster, _1982, 1940_ … And I finally realized what I'd gotten myself into. Time travel.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this chapter took so long! For some reason it was just a big brain-block. Also, this is story is part one of a trilogy, but due to timey-wimey problems, I'm writing all three books at the same time. So sometimes I may go weeks without posting, then post three chapters at a time :p**

When the ship finally stopped moving, I didn't know where I was or what to do. I didn't even know _when_ I was. The dial wasn't offering any more clues and I didn't want to risk pushing buttons without knowing what they would do. I decided my best bet was to look outside so I walked shakily to the door and stepped out.

I immediately shrunk back against the TARDIS in terror at the sight in front of me. There were nearly a hundred horrific creatures – red, bulky, and covered in suckers. The attention of all of them was fixed on one man: the man in the box: the Timelord.

"Leave!" he commanded. "And don't return to this planet again."

One by one the creatures disappeared in a flash of blue light. When the last one was gone, the man turned around. His eyes instantly lit up at the sight of the time machine.

"My TARDIS!" he exclaimed. "It's here!" then his eyes fell to me.

I slowly stood and held out a trembling hand with the TARDIS key.

He looked at me, then at the key, then back to me. "How did you find it?"

I cleared my throat softly. "It was in my house…sir."

"Oh! Brilliant." He took the key out of my hand and I pulled back at his touch. "Thanks!" he said, clearly not noticing my reaction and flashing that smile I had thought so gorgeous when I watched his message. Now all I could think of was my vision.

He practically bounced into the box and I hesitantly followed.

"Hello you beautiful thing, you! Oh I've missed you!" He ran around the room touching everything and babbling to the TARDIS. She in turn hummed and glowed twice as brightly.

"Why didn't you get out?" he asked, suddenly standing right in front of me.

"I – I'm sorry. The TARDIS, um," I withered under his gaze. "she locked her doors before I could get out. I'm sorry."

"What do you keep apologizing for?"

"N-nothing," I stammered. "I just wanted to tell you that I did try. To get out."

"No, it's like…" he moved in closer, squinting at me, and I stepped back.

"You're terrified of me!" his voice and his face spoke shock. "But I'm not scary. See!" he wiggled his fingers, "no weapons," he pulled back his lips, "no fangs."

I smiled a little despite my fear. "It's just…what I saw."

"What'd you see?" When I still hesitated, he gave an encouraging smile. "Come on, you can tell me. I promise I won't be mad!"

I gathered my courage, "Um, when the TARDIS started taking off – after I tried to open the doors – I had a," I shook my head, "sort of vision. I don't know."

"It's ok! What was in the vision?"

"Well, you."

"Well that's fancy. I feel fancy now, being in a vision. I'm flattered. What was I doing?"

"You were angry," I whispered. He froze. "You were angry and they were all so afraid. And sometimes –" my voice fell even lower, "you killed them."

He looked horrified. "I'm not a – look, I've –" he fumbled for words.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean –" I didn't know how he would react now.

"Look," he said firmly, "I protect people – that's all I do – I protect them."

I found myself wanting to believe him. "But you've killed so much."

He bowed his head. "I have."

I thought he looked broken-hearted and I felt pity for him. He was silent for a moment and I worked up the courage to ask him,

"Why are they afraid when they hear 'Timelord'?"

His head shot up. "Where'd you hear that?" his voice was strained.

I hadn't expected his strong reaction. "In the vision…" I trailed off.

"You shouldn't have seen any of that."

I didn't know what to say.

After a moment the Doctor spoke again. "Let me show you something." He pushed some buttons and pulled a lever and the TARDIS traveled, a little more smoothly than before. When it stopped moving, he walked to the door, put his hand on the handle, and said quietly, "Come look."

I came and he opened the doors. I gasped in awe. All around were billions of stars. We were in space. He waited a moment, letting me take it all in, then said, "You look at this and see stars – beautiful, gigantic balls of burning gas. But when I look, I see so much more."

The vastness and beauty of it all was entrancing, but I tore my eyes away to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"I come from a race called the Timelords. Once we were one of the most powerful races in the universe."

I could feel my eyes going wide.

"My people could feel the movement of Time yet weren't bound by it. When I look at the world, I see what it is, but also what it was and what it will be. That's what I am. And that's why they're afraid. I'm not a tyrant or a monster. But when people are getting hurt and can't just stand by and do nothing."

I nodded slowly. It made sense, I just didn't know what to do with it.

"I'm the Doctor. What's your name?"

I started. "Um, Adalyn. My name is Adalyn."

"You don't need to be afraid of me, Adalyn, ok?" He looked concerned. "And I really don't know why you saw that."

I looked out again, more to avoid eye contact than anything else. I just wanted time to make sense of it all.

He sighed. "I'll take you home." He reached in front of me and closed the doors.

At that moment an alarm went off. The Doctor frowned. "Hold on –" he pulled a large screen over and his frown grew deeper looking at it. "They're back." He sprang into action, pulling knobs, pushing buttons and setting dials.

"What happened?" I asked, startled.

"Those creatures you saw a minute ago are back. In force. I shouldn't have left so quickly." He pulled a lever and the ship went careening through space. I grabbed on to railing just as my feet lost contact with the floor.

"I thought you were taking me home!" there was a touch of panic in my voice.

"I'm sorry, Adalyn, really I am." he shouted over the TARDIS' loud groanings. "But there isn't time. I have to get back."

"But it's a time machine!" Confusion and adrenaline were overcoming my fear of him.

"It's really complicated!" he yelled.

Just then the TARDIS jerked hard and I lost my grip on the railing and went flying through the air. The Doctor released his hold on the railing and lunged forward, catching me. The ship must have landed because everything was suddenly still. We stood still, catching our breath. He was still holding my shoulders.

"You need to trust me."

I pushed away shakily. "I don't know you."

"Trust me anyway."

I hesitated. He waited, searching my eyes anxiously.

"Fine."

He smiled. "Good girl." He ran to the door. "Stay in the TARDIS. I'll be back." He hurried out.

I sighed and sat down, but only for a minute, then I started pacing. The time machine poked my consciousness like I might poke my siblings.

"What is it?"

_You know you want to. _ She sounded smug.

"Nope." I sat down and crossed my arms. "I'm just gonna wait for him to take me home."

_Boring._

"Hey!" But I knew she was right. All that time spent trying to get in the box and reach a new world and now I was just going to sit here?

I leapt up. "I'm just gonna take a peek." I hurried out to escape her laughter and closed the door behind me.

"I did tell you to stay inside." a voice said.

I jumped and turned to see the Doctor. He hadn't gone far from the TARDIS. He was holding a small device with a blue light that was buzzing quietly. Both the device and his gaze were toward the sky. I looked up and gasped. The sky was full of huge ships.

"What are they?" I asked.

"They're zygon ships."

"Zygon?" I repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, the red cone-shaped ones covered in suckers." He tore his gaze from the sky to look at me. "Attractive, weren't they?"

I remembered the glimpse I'd gotten of them. "What do they want?"

"Take over the earth." he stuck the device in his pocket.

"What's that?"

"Sonic screwdriver. I've got to hurry. Are you coming?"

I nodded.

"Then run!" he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. As we ran through the city streets people ran by us screaming frantically as zygons beamed down to the surface.

"We need to help them!"

"Yeah, that's what I'm working on. Oh, hold on." We stopped in front of a building and he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the lock. I looked up at the sign above the building. It read _Hampton School of Science and Engineering_. The lock clicked, and the Doctor grabbed my hand again pulling me inside, through a long hall, and up an even longer staircase.

"What on earth are we doing?" I panted.

"Well, I was going to look for someone clever and an engineering school seemed like the place to find that someone, but the building is empty." We had reached the top of the stairs.

"We broke in."

"Yes, we did..." the Doctor looked into a few classrooms before walking into a room filled with lab equipment. He spun around before turning to me with a wide, mischievous smile on his face, "and look!" he spread his arms wide, "I found someone clever!"

I caught on. "So you have a plan?" Somehow his smile was contagious, and I felt my lips turning upward.

"Now I do. Cuz now I have all this equipment." He was pulling bottles of chemicals out of the cabinet and lining them out on the table.

"How can I help?"

"How old are you?"

I lied, "College. I can help."

He paused just for a second. "Funny, you don't look like you're in college." He tossed me a toolbox. I caught it.

"Find the water heater and bring it here."

I shook my head, "Wait, bring what?"

"The water heater."

"Oh!" Whatever the madman said. I took off.

It didn't take me long to find the water heater. I carefully turned it off and detached it. The tank was large and heavy so I was grateful that the elevator was close. I rolled it down the hall and into the elevator, taking it up to the Doctor on the top floor.

When I got to the lab the room had undergone horrific transformation.

"You got it!" the Doctor rejoiced.

"You built something." I said dumbly.

"Oh yes!"

"And…removed the ceiling."

The Doctor took the tank from me. "Oh yes!"

He went to the work of hooking up the water heater to his invention and I came over and crouched next to him.

"So…it compresses hydrogen? "

"That's exactly what it does!" he looked pleased.

"Then you don't want to do that," I pointed to a valve, "because it will release it into the atmosphere."

"Precisely. You are quick, aren't you?"

"But as soon as it hits the air it will combust." I made note of his comment while pretending to ignore it.

"Precisely!" he finished his task and leapt up. "Zygons are extremely afraid of fire. If I fill the upper atmosphere with fire they will fly like crazy out of here."

"Yeah, and catch all the buildings on fire."

"Nope! Because," the Doctor pointed "this traps the hydrogen in pockets that pop only when they reach the zygon ships, because their ships release a by-product of their fuel which –"

"Ok, got it. That's fine. But what about the zygons on the ground?"

"That's why this is part B of the plan." He grabbed my hand and took me running down all the stairs.

When we got outside, he pulled several hand-sized devices out of his pockets and handed them to me. I wondered how he had fit them all.

"Right," he said, "so what we need to do is make a perimeter around all the zygons on the ground. They can't have spread too far yet, but it will still take some time, so we need transportation."

I looked around. "Bikes!"

"Brilliant!" We ran over to the bike rack and the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to break the locks on two bikes.

"Set one every mile and push the middle button to activate them," he instructed, hopping on his bike. "Meet back at the school when you're done!"

We both took off. I rode as fast as I could through the city streets. There were still people running and screaming. I desperately wished I could stop and help them, but I knew whatever the Doctor's plan was would be our best hope so I just pedaled harder. I set up and activated the four devices the Doctor had given me and retraced my path back to the school.

I was only a block away from the school when I turned a corner and almost ran into a glaring zygon. I skidded to a halt and fell, the bike landing on top of me. My leg scraped against the pavement and I cried out in pain. The zygon bent down and grabbed the bike. It threw it as if it were a toy and then reached for me. I screamed in fear then the zygon fell on top of me. A second later it was rolled off and I saw the Doctor standing there with a two-by-four.

"Doctor!"

He helped me up and I threw my arms around his neck and started crying.

"It's ok, I've got you." The Doctor hugged me back, then disentangled my arms from him. "We've got to hurry now."

I nodded.

He turned around and crouched down. "jump on my back."

My leg stung so I didn't argue. He ran with me riding piggy-back the last block, into the building, up the elevator, and to the lab. There, he put me down and ran over to his machine.

"So how does this work?" I asked. "What do the things we set up do?"

"Each one locks onto zygon DNA within a half-mile radius."

"Wow!"

"And then they all connect and run back to here!" he waved a hand at his creation.

His words were like a punch to the gut. "Wait, they connect to the fire machine?"

"Yep!" he popped his 'p'.

I started to panic. "I didn't know that's what they did!"

"No more zygons on the ground and we'll just have the ones in the air to take care of."

"But that can't be it! I mean, you can't just do that!"

He looked at me curiously. "They had their chance. I gave them fair warning." He turned back to the machine.

I grabbed his arm. "Then give them another chance."

He turned around fully now and I gulped, remembering again just who he was.

"Give them another chance," I whispered. "What's the point of being powerful if you can't show mercy?"

His eyes pierced mine, but I held his gaze.

"Adalyn," he finally said, "I'm not going to kill them."

"Wait – you're not?"

He shook his head. "That's not the kind of man I am."

"But everything I saw –"

"I've killed."

I froze.

"I've killed more than you can imagine. But not like this. Never like this." He bit his lower lip and looked away. "When I fight it's to protect life, not destroy it.

I was quiet. "I misjudged you. I apologize."

"It's ok. You still don't have a reason to trust me."

"I might now," I admitted softly.

The Doctor smiled. "Then will you help me?"

"Yes."

"Ok!" he was in action again. "hand me the thingy."

There was a wrench at my feet, so I gave it to him. He used it, so I suppose I guessed right.

"So the devices latch onto their DNA, then this machine connects all the signals and locks onto the ships – that's where this machine does its main job – but then I built in a transporter that will send all the zygons on the ground back up to their ships."

"Oh," my lips formed the word silently.

"As soon as they're on the ship, we send up the hydrogen pockets and KABOOM-"

I jumped a little.

"- the sky is alight. Obviously they won't be hurt – the fire won't even hurt the ships. But it'll be just enough to make them uncomfortable."

I could see now that he was angry, he was just keeping his anger controlled.

"They didn't listen the first time, but they'll pay attention now." He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the machine. "Allons-y!"

I expected something explosive, but instead thousands of bubbles flew out of the machine and up through the ceiling.

"it's pretty!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah," the Doctor smiled.

We watched the bubbles float up toward the ships. They were so calm. Then, in a fraction of a second, the sky was enveloped in fire with a deafening noise.

"Haha!" the Doctor jumped and laughed triumphantly. "That'll do it!"

My heart was pounding with fear and excitement. "What happens now?" I yelled, ears still ringing from the explosion.

The Doctor looked suddenly serious. He straightened his tie and adjusted his jacket.

"Business."

I wasn't sure what he meant. "Are you going to talk with them again?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Ok. How will that work?"

"I'm gonna go up there."

"But… isn't that going to be dangerous?"

The Doctor was adjusting the transporter, his mouth set in a stern frown. "Sometimes showing mercy is dangerous."

I realized he was a far better man than I'd given him credit for. "Ok." I came close to stand with him.

"No. Not you."

"Wait, what do you mean? Why not?"

"Because it is dangerous and this is my job. You go wait in the TARDIS."

"But –"

"TARDIS! Now!" He yelled.

I pulled back, trembling a little. "Ok," I agreed, "But you come back safe or I don't care if do yell at me – which is just rude by the way – I will come back and get you out."

He looked surprised and a little bit ashamed, but he only nodded. "I'll be back."

He pocketed his sonic screwdriver, twisted the transporter, and was gone.

I just stood there for a minute, then I went downstairs and outside. The streets were still chaotic and I mused on how strange it would look if anyone stopped to see: the city in a frenzy and one girl just walking.

I got back to the TARDIS. It occurred to me that she could be locked, but she wasn't and I went it. The TARDIS and I greeted each other silently and I sat down to wait for the Doctor.

Twenty minutes later, I heard the TARDIS door open and turned to see the Doctor come in. I thought he looked exhausted.

"Is it finished?" I asked.

He immediately got rid of the tired look and plastered on a smile. He did it like it was second nature.

"Yup! Earth won't be seeing them again! Well, not for a hundred years or so."

"Wait, you mean after all that they'll come back again?" I couldn't believe it.

"Oh yeah, lots of times. They never learn."

"What will you do next time?"

"Oh, I'll come up with something clever."

I shook my head in admiration. "You always do this, don't you? Save the earth, be patient with the same race over and over again?"

The Doctor shuffled his feet, "Well, I like to think that's what I do," he said modestly.

I thought a second. "You never did tell me your name."

"Course I did!" he leaned back against the console, crossing his legs. "It's 'the Doctor'."

"That's a title."

"It's also my name." he insisted.

"Wait, do all Timelords get names like that?"

He looked thrown. "Well, kind of. We're given names at birth, just like you lot, but when we're older we get to choose a name."

"Oh! So you chose 'Doctor'."

"Yup."

"In that case, Doctor, I really like your name."

"Really?" he sounded extremely pleased.

I chuckled. "Yeah. It suits you."

Now he looked as if I had paid him a serious compliment.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

I was surprised, but only said, "You're welcome!"

After a minute he said, "I never mentioned: I love the pajamas."

It took a second to register, then I looked down at my clothes. Sure enough, I was still in the pajamas I'd fallen asleep in. What was worse, they were my Winnie the Pooh pajamas. I groaned. "That is so embarrassing."

The Doctor laughed. "Good old Pooh. Little young for you."

I blushed and mumbled, "They're comfy."

"How old did you say you were?"

"I didn't."

"No, you said you were in college. But you're tiny! You look, like, fourteen."

I chuckled slightly, glad to turn the conversation. "I'm fifteen. And I'm not in college. I was saving time."

"How come a fifteen-year-old knows so much chemistry? And how to disassemble a water heater? Blimey, is your mother a plumber or something?"

"No, I've never even taken a proper look at a water heater." I confessed.

"So you're just clever."

I blushed.

"That's alright! Clever's good! I'm just used to being the only one, is all."

I snorted. "I bet you are."

He just smiled at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just… you got over your fear pretty quickly."

"I mean, there were people in danger. We had to do something."

"I meant your fear of me."

I blanched. "No," I said cautiously, "I didn't."

He peered into my face and he may as well have been peering into my soul.

"No," he said slowly, "you would still be scared. After seeing what you saw –" he shook his head. "But you still have the guts to sass me."

We held each other's eyes. Then his face split into a huge grin. "I like that."

Suddenly he was at the console as if there were hidden springs in his shoes.

"Right! So off we go! Your home: July 15, 2014." He pushed a thousand buttons then put his hand over the wibbly lever and looked at me. "Allons-y!" He pulled the lever and we went careening through space.

A minute later the TARDIS stopped and he ran out the door. I followed. We were at my house. The trees rustled softly around us. All the windows in the house were dark. It was still night.

"There you are: home again. No one will even know you've been gone." He stood next to me, hands stuck in his pockets, looking just like he had in the message. "That's the beauty of time travel, you travel for a year, see the universe, and still get back in time for tea."

I didn't respond. Part of me was still reeling from all I'd seen, the other part of me was dying to see more.

"Well," the Doctor said after a moment, "I guess I'll be off." He sounded hesitant.

"Thank you." I spun around to face him.

He halted and waited.

"I mean, for letting me share in that experience. I know, it's not like it was your choice for me to meet your TARDIS, but-" I laughed, "wow, this is awkward."

He was listening intently.

"I guess what I'm trying to say… is that it was an honor to get to know her, even if was just for a little bit."

I shifted awkwardly in the silence that followed my speech. The Doctor was still staring me down.

"You know," he finally said, "I've known a lot of humans, had a lot of them as friends – even as travelling companions. And they would fall in love with the adventure, with the other worlds, and, well, with me."

I tried to hide my smile.

"But I've never met anyone who loved my TARDIS as much as I do. Who loves her like you do."

I turned my back to him to hide the small stab of pain I felt. "Yeah. Well, she's beautiful." And now I was losing her.

"Adalyn-" he paused to search for the right words. "You've seen what I do. You know who I am. Do you trust me?"

I twisted around to see him, holding out his hand to me. My heart raced. "Wha- what are you saying?"

"I'm saying: Come with me, Adalyn."

"Come…with you?"

"Come see the universe. It's brilliant and beautiful."

I felt a smile spreading across my face and he began to smile too.

"Yeah." I stepped forward and put my hand in his.


	4. Chapter 4

**So the college semester has begun. You can expect my next update during Christmas break (crying into pillow).**

I sat on the railing, watching the Doctor run in circles around the console. "Where are we going?"

"The old wild west!"

"Wait, the American wild west?" I asked in excitement.

"No, the Nuranean one."

"Oh!"

"No," he chuckled, "actually the American one. Although the Nuraneans did have a wild west. I was awful. Never go there."

"Noted! I will never go to the Nuranean wild west."

The Doctor continued to lecture on Nuranean history and I just smiled and half-listened.

When I had first left to adventure with the Doctor, I had been reserved around him. It was strange starting a friendship knowing the dark side of the person first. But over the last three months I'd gotten to see his courage and compassion, his kindness and wisdom, his wild love for the universe, and his insane sense of fun. I never forgot who he was, but this Timelord – this crazy old man with the joy of a five-year-old – had become my dearest friend.

"You know," I interrupted the Doctor when he stopped for a breath, "if we're going to the mid-1800s we should really do a costume change."

"Right! I've got just the thing, partner!" he grabbed my hand and we marched through the TARDIS to the wardrobe.

"Do-do-do-doo! Do-do-dooo!" we sang the Indiana Jones theme song loudly as we went. We reached the staircase and slid down the long, spiraling railing.

"Hey! You know what we should do?" I grabbed the Doctor's arm as he slid of the railing behind me. "After this we should go meet John Williams!"

"We should!" the Doctor agreed, as enthusiastic as if I'd suggested we witness the creation of the universe. "He's brilliant; you'll love him. Last time he gave me his baton as a keepsake. After I broke it. But first, the American West!" He threw open a chest of scarves and hats and dug around for a bit.

"I will wear this," the Doctor pulled out a weather-beaten leather cowboy hat and put it on, "and you –" he rummaged a bit more, "can wear this!" he produced a monstrosity in the shape of a cowboy hat: pink and covered in glitter.

"No." I said flatly.

"Come on," he whined, "look, it sparkles!"

"That is a child's hat made of who knows what that you bought at a rodeo. In _Maine_. Who goes to a rodeo in Maine?"

"Look, I don't spend a lot of time in America."

I grinned mischievously, "Tell you what though –" I snatched the nice cowboy hat off the Doctor's head and put it on my own head.

"Nuh uh!" the Doctor tried to take it back but I dashed out of his reach.

"I think _you _should wear the pink hat if you like it so much."

"But it's –" the Doctor stopped short.

"It's what?" I prompted evilly.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before finishing lamely, "…girly."

I shook my head. "You know, I want to call 'sexist', but it's certainly not manly."

The Doctor inspected the hat in question. "It is pretty awful."

"Thank you!"

Now he got a wicked grin on his face. "But I'll wear it."

"Wait, you will?"

"Under one condition: you wear it when we meet John Williams."

"Oof." I debated internally before deciding, "It'll be worth it to see wearing that thing in front of real cowboys." We shook on it.

A horse outside a saloon twitched its tail against flies and blinked dozily in the Texas heat. Suddenly gunshots and yelling from inside the building frightened it and it reared up, screaming and kicking the fence. A tall man and a tiny girl burst from the saloon running full speed. They were pursued by ten men with mustaches and boots.

"Git the feller in the pink hat!" One man hollered.

The girl held her old leather hat against her head with one hand and held the man's hand with the other as they ran for dear life. They put on an extra burst of speed when they came in sight of a blue box, but the man tripped dodging a bullet. The girl tugged him forward, neither of them noticing the pink hat fluttering to the ground.

They reached the box, scaring a lizard that had taken refuge in the box's shade. The man fumbled with the key, unable to get it into the lock.

"Doctor!" the girl yelled as their pursuers closed in. "Hurry upmph!"

The door opened and they both fell inside.

I kicked the door shut as bullets hit the TARDIS. The Doctor and I stared at each other wide-eyed and panting.

"You ok?" I gasped.

"Yeah!" he wheezed. "Never better!"

We sat on the floor looking at each other another moment, then I started to laugh. He stared at me for a second in disbelief.

"What's funny?"

I was choking on my own laughter and couldn't respond.

"Oi! I could have died!" he said indignantly, but a smile tugged at his mouth.

I howled, tears running down my face.

"They were angry!"

"Cause your poker skills stink!" I managed.

"_My _poker skills? What about yours?" He poked me.

I brushed his hand away, finally getting control of myself. "Nothing compared to the embarrassment of yours."

The Doctor stood and brushed himself off. I held out my hand for him to help me up but he blatantly ignored me.

"Anyway," I stood, "it may not have been the poker at all. The real culprit was probably your silly hat."

"My hat!" the Doctor clapped his head. "It must have fallen off while we were running!"

"Bummer," I tried to sound sympathetic.

"I'm gonna go get it," the Doctor opened the door only to slam it shut again against an array of bullets.

"Well?" I crossed my arms. "John Williams?"

The Doctor tried to scowl at me but gave in with a smile. I grabbed one lever and he grabbed another.

"One, two, three!" he yelled. We pulled the levers and we were off.

That night I lay awake in bed long after telling the Doctor goodnight. The TARDIS had made this room for me as a gift and I loved everything about it. First of all, she had put it next to the library – one of my favorite places to hang out on mine and the Doctor's chill days. But the interior of the room was what made it really special. The room was small, and always felt cozy, but somehow the walls never ran out of space, no matter how many of my pictures I put up. I still drew sometimes – mostly when the Doctor got distracted with one of his pet projects – and I'd decorated my room with illustrations of our adventures together.

All the colors in the room were a shade of blue – a tribute to the TARDIS herself. One could call it vanity on her part, but this room was for me – to reflect what I loved – and I loved the TARDIS.

There a large window in the wall opposite the door and the TARDIS put different scenery in it each day and night. Every morning I woke to a warmth like sunshine on my face. Sometimes, when the TARDIS could tell I was homesick, she'd comfort me with soft rain.

This was one of those nights. I lay on my side and listened to the soothing pattering of rain outside my window.

Traveling with the Doctor was amazing. It was a dream come true and I was getting to see it with my first close friend. But every day I remembered what I'd left behind. The experiences and adventures were amazing, but family had always come first in my life, and now I had left them without a word. It bugged me.

Every time I saw something new, I thought how much one of my family members would have loved to see it and how much more wonderful it would be if I was seeing it with them.

I wasn't ready for my adventure to end. I knew that. But now I realized with certainty that more important than all the excitement in the universe was being with the people who were most important to me.

I sighed and huddled deeper into my cloud-like bed. The Doctor and I had talked about taking a tour through the second and third centuries of the Cheem home world. I'd been looking forward to it, but now all I wanted was to be home.

I couldn't think about anything else, so I got up, wrapping myself in my blanket like a burrito. I asked the TARDIS where the Doctor was and she pointed me to the controls room.

I found him sitting on the floor under the console reading. He looked like such a dork with those glasses on that I had to smile. "Hey."

"Hey!" the Doctor looked up from his book with a smile. "Can't sleep?"

I shrugged and sat down close next to the Doctor. He put one arm around me.

"I was thinking about my family again."

"Yeah?"

Now that I was here, I didn't want to tell him – didn't want to see him sad.

"You know you're my best friend, yeah?"

"And you're mine!" he squeezed my shoulder. "What brought this on?"

I didn't respond and the Doctor's face fell. "You want to go home."

I threw my blanketed arms around him. "You're my best friend, but they're my family."

He sighed and rubbed my shoulder. "Of course you miss them. I'll take you back."

"This doesn't have to be the end." I said.

"You know I forget you're still just a kid? I basically kidnapped you. Your parents won't exactly be jumping to let me run off with you again."

"Um, first off, the TARDIS did the kidnapping – not you. And secondly, my parents are probably just going to be jealous that I went time-traveling without them."

The Doctor shuffled around to look down at my face. "Adalyn. In all seriousness, your parents are not going to be happy."

I sighed. "Yeah, they're not."

"We could always keep running off secretly. Home by day, TARDIS by night."

"No." I said quickly. "I kept the TARDIS in my attic a secret from them. No more secrets."

"Ok." The Doctor agreed. "Tell them everything you need to."

We were both quiet and the TARDIS respected our silence. After a while I ventured, "You could tell them with me."

He didn't respond so I continued.

"You're so important to me, and so are they, so I want you to know each other." I hurried on, "You could stay with us – just for a little bit – and then they would understand and grow to love you …"

"Oh Adalyn," my friend sighed, "I don't really do families."

I'd expected such an answer, but it was still disappointing. "Why not?"

"It's…never gone well in the past. Families are just messy – good messy! Families are good! – but I'm do better on my own."

"Then why did you ask me to come with you?"

He didn't answer.

After a minute I gently said "Look, you don't have to stay, but if you would just meet them, it would mean the world to me. Maybe you have a good reason for not getting involved in families, but I would bet a fortune that my family is different."

He looked deep in thought.

"Just…just meet them."

"Ok." He agreed.

"Wait, really?"

"_Just_ introducing myself. I'm not staying."

"Oh my gosh thank you!" I hugged him fiercely.

"Whoa! Ok." He patted my head.

"It's settled then." I snuggled against him again.

The Doctor rested his head against mine. I quickly grew sleepy and as I was drifting off, I heard him ask,

"One last trip tomorrow?"

I nodded sleepily and smiled. "Anywhere you want."

"We'll let the old girl decide where we go."

"Agreed." I fell asleep and had happy dreams of me and the Doctor in the TARDIS.

I woke to the warm glow of the TARDIS's light. I blinked awake and saw that I was still leaning on the Doctor.

"Good morning." I poked him. He jolted and then smiled down at me.

"Good morning!"

I yawned and sat up. "Good lord you're comfy. Why'd you let me sleep on you all night?" I'd learned long ago that he seldom slept.

"Didn't want to wake you. It's fine. I solved a problem I've been procrastinating on; reread my book a couple times; contemplated breakfast."

"Eggs benedict."

"On the fifth moon of Junpoo?"

"Works for me."

"And then our final trip."

I squeezed his hand. "Our final trip."

Breakfast on the moon turned into a several day affair, but we finally got away for our final trip.

"Ready for one last go?" the Doctor asked, once we were settled back into the TARDIS and in the engine room.

I took a deep breath. "Yes. And no more getting sidetracked. This is it."

"This is it." the Doctor repeated, sounding disappointed.

"Hey," I nudged him, "Maybe things won't have to change entirely." Even as I spoke, I had a gut feeling that my words were wrong. It was the end of an era.

We set the TARDIS to random and came to our final destination.

"Hey look, she took us to earth." I said, checking the meter.

"Hm, 1869 London. Ooo! There's a ball going on!" The Doctor turned

the screen for me to see outside. There was lovely stone building with large windows through which we could see people dancing.

"Always a party in London."

I chuckled.

"What do you say we join them?" he lifted his eyebrows at me, "I think there's a ball gown in the wardrobe."

"Yeah, I don't know how to dance."

"Really?" he looked surprised.

"I mean, it's not like I ever had anyone to dance with.

"Well it's easy. I'll teach you. Here –" he came up and took my hand. "Now you put your other hand on my shoulder just so..." he put my hand in place then slipped his other arm around me.

"Wait, are we really going to do this?" I laughed to cover my awkwardness.

"Everyone should know how do dance," the Doctor insisted. "Come on: last adventure."

"Um, well ok." I took his outheld hand and he moved my other hand to his shoulder before putting his other hand on my waist.

"Oh! Ok."

"Oh get over it," the Doctor laughed and let go of my hand to poke my nose.

I wrinkled my nose and stuck out my tongue.

"So: waltzes are in three."

"Right."

"Now you're just going to mirror my movements. So I step back –" he moved backward and I stumbled forward into him.

"It's really more of a 'step' than a 'fall'." The Doctor teased.

"Haha." I said darkly.

"Now keep mirroring. We'll go slowly."

I copied his steps, keeping my eyes glued to his shoes.

"Hey." The Doctor grabbed my attention and I looked up at him. He was smiling.

"That's better."

"But now I can't see what you're doing," I complained and tried to look down again.

"Nu-uh!" he scolded. "Face. Eyes." He pulled me closer [A1] and made a smoulder. "Romance."

I stepped purposefully on his toes.

"Ow!" he yelped and I giggled.

Just then the TARDIS started playing a slow waltz.

"That's what we needed!" the Doctor exclaimed.

Gradually we fell into a rhythm. I managed to get the steps and the Doctor swept me along so confidently that I actually felt graceful.

The Doctor was too tall for me to keep my eyes on his face for long and I finally settled for leaning my forehead against his chest, listening to the sweet harmony between the music and the TARDIS herself.

"I'm going to miss you," I murmured.

The Doctor didn't answer. It was ok. I knew he didn't like to admit to sadness because he'd had so much. But after a moment he surprised me by admitting,

"I'll miss you too."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and we were reduced to only swaying with the music.

After a long while, he pushed me back gently. "Ready to join the party?"

I grinned, trying to hide my sadness. "You know it."

"Let's get ready then!"

We ran down to the wardrobe room and where we split up to find our outfits. I finally found a ball gown: a pale blue silk with a ruffled hoop skirts, off-the shoulder sleeves and silk roses.

"Is the blue one the right era?" I hollered over my shoulder.

"Yes?" the Doctor's muffled voice came from a closet.

"You fill me with confidence," I mumbled.

"I'm dressed, so I'm going upstairs," he called out.

"Ok!"

I struggled a bit to get into the dress, but finally managed, and when I looked in the mirror my breath caught in my throat. I'd never cared about fashion except as it pertained to history, and I'd been too busy reading to be into princesses. But when I saw myself in the dress, I felt beautiful. I touched one of roses on the bodice and couldn't contain my smile. I twisted my waist length hair into a simple bun and pinned it up. Then I looped the ocean of skirt over my arm and went upstairs.

The Doctor's back was toward me as he played with buttons on the control panel.

"Ready." I said.

He turned around then stopped with an almost startled look. He stared for a moment, then said, "I didn't remember liking the dress so much."

I smiled sweetly, "Perhaps it simply wasn't as flattering on you."

He snorted. "Very funny. What I meant was, you look very pretty."

"Thank you, monsieur," I curtsied, "And you look most dashing in that suit."

"My most sincere thanks," he performed a sweeping bow.

"Is that a cravat?" I asked, dropping the French accent.

"It is! Isn't it great?" he posed.

"Totally. You should really dress like this more."

He smiled. "I think I will!" He offered me his arm and I took it. "Let us join the dance."

We strolled into the building and joined the chaos of music and whirling skirts.

We danced two dances together, then stood by watching the other dancers and talking. After an hour or so, I noticed him watching a pretty girl on the other side of the room.

"Why don't you go meet her?"

"Hm? What'd you say?" the Doctor started.

"Go ask that girl to dance."

He looked at the her, then at me. "You sure?"

"Go!" I laughed, giving him a push toward her.

He went over and spoke to her and they began dancing. I watched, glad to see him enjoying himself. When the dance was over and he'd left his partner, he caught my eye and mouthed something. I frowned, not understanding, and he pointed at a large lady with an enormous feather boa. I covered my mouth and tried not to laugh. He winked at me then approached the woman and spoke to her. A moment later they were waltzing pompously and he was grinning goofily at me. I shook my head and tried to suppress my giggles. I was amusing myself by watching them, when someone behind me spoke.

"Excuse me."

Everything stopped for me when I heard the enchantment and power this voice held. I spun around to look up into the face of the man who had spoken and a shiver ran down my spine. He was strikingly handsome, with intense brown eyes, but my shiver was one that said, _"this is wrong". _I dropped my eyes, unable to continue looking.

"May I have this dance?" his authoritative voice left no room for refusal.

I couldn't speak. He took my hand and led me out to the dance floor.

Left hand still firmly holding my right, his right arm now wrapped around my waist and pulled my body against his. My breath hitched at being so close. I wanted to break free, but I didn't even have the power to lift my face to his. I could feel his eyes boring a hole in me so I tentatively put my left hand on his shoulder.

The music started – a Strauss waltz – and the mysterious man led me through the dance with unparalleled grace and confidence.

I didn't know why I believed this man was dangerous besides my gut intuition. But until now I had not understood what fear was.

The dance lasted forever. I lost awareness of everyone else in the room; there was only the man holding me. There was only his scrutinizing gaze.

Time resumed when the music stopped. He let me go, turned his back on me, and walked away. I stood alone in the middle of the dance floor, learning to breathe again.

A hand slipped into mine.

"Let's go," the Doctor whispered.

We stepped out into the cool night.

"Hurry." The Doctor was curt, pulling me quickly toward the TARDIS.

"Who was that?" I didn't recognize my own voice for the terror that colored it.

"He didn't tell you his name?" The Doctor stopped short and held my face in his hands. I'd never seen him so desperate. "Anything?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. Doctor, I could _feel _his power. When he spoke to me –" the Doctor stepped back and ran his hands over his face. "—I … I couldn't do anything."

He was shaking now.

"Doctor?" I put my hand on his arm, my dread increasing as I witnessed his. "Who is he?"

"An old friend." We about-faced simultaneously to see the man I'd danced with standing only thirty feet away. My whole body tingled with fear. *

"Did you miss me?" the man smiled dramatically.

The Doctor opted for silence.  
"What, no tears? And it's been so long." He put on an expression of hurt.

The Doctor stayed frozen at my side.

The man surveyed him thoughtfully. "You've changed. And you found a new companion." He looked at me. "She's lovely."

"Stay away from her." The Doctor spoke quietly, but in a tone so commanding it made me shudder.

"No need to be rude." The man spread his arms guilelessly, "I'm just trying to be friendly."

Slowly, he put one foot forward.

"Stay back," the Doctor threatened, stepping protectively in front of me.

"Oh Doctor, Doctor," he deliberately and unhurriedly continued his advance. "As if you could possibly do anything to stand in my way."

His words flowed through my mind like a melody. I closed my eyes and listened, falling into a trance.

"After all this time – after I came so far – is it surprising that I seek the company of another Timelord? Even if is the company of my friend who betrayed and abandoned me?"

The Doctor's hand grabbed mine, breaking the spell. "Run!"

I didn't need to be told twice. Terror gave my feet wings and we sprinted into the TARDIS. As the Doctor slammed the doors closed, I caught a glimpse of the man. He hadn't even tried to follow. His face was calm and confident.

We'd never left a place faster.

"Who is he?" I asked as soon as we were away.

The Doctor's only glared darkly at the control panel.

"I thought you were the only Timelord left."

The Doctor still didn't answer or look at me.

"Doctor, say something!" my voice was tight with panic.

He finally looked at me.

"Who is he?" I whispered my question again.

"An old friend." He said grimly.

"Doctor, _who?_" I demanded.

"His name is The Master. And I'm so sorry, but you'll never be safe again."

*At this point, _please _listen to "The Master Vainglorious"


	5. Chapter 5

**It's all darker from here on...**

"Where can we go?"

"Somewhere far away," he answered. "Somewhere he would never think to look for us."

I thought hard. "Then it should be some place remarkably boring. Where nothing ever happens."

"Brilliant!" he yelled. "He knows me, and I hate boring."

I flinched and tried not to think about how the dark Timelord would know my Doctor so well. The Doctor spun the dial, hit the bell and pulled the lever.

"Most boring place in the universe: where nothing ever happens." He threw open the TARDIS door but we both stumbled backward at the strong gust of heat and smoke.

"What the –" the Doctor held his coat over his mouth and stepped out to look. I covered my nose and mouth with my arm and followed him.

Ashes. The planet was ashes. It was dry and empty and dead. Large fires blazed at intervals. My eyes watered and I coughed violently because of the heavy smoke while the Doctor stared at the wasteland in disbelief.*

After a moment we saw something moving slowly through the smoke and we strained our eyes until we could distinguish the figure of a man. My stomach did a somersault.

"Go."

My ears heard the Doctor's command but my mind didn't register it. He grabbed my arm.

"Go. Go!"

We raced back into the TARDIS and the Doctor took us through the time vortex and into a nebula.

I wanted to ask, but I didn't even know what I wanted to ask. And in truth I already knew. I was in shock.

"They were a peaceful planet." His voice was shaking with fury. "Nothing ever happened there. The people never bothered anyone."

I couldn't speak.

"The whole planet was green. The inhabitants were idiots: whenever they got scared, they would hide up in the trees." He ran his hands through his hair. "They were utterly defenseless."

He was silent for a moment. Suddenly he slammed his fists into the console, sending sparks flying and making me jump.

"Billions of people!" he yelled. "_Billions!_ The most boring, idiotic race in the universe all _massacred_. And because of _me!_" he bashed the console again.

I started crying – just shaking with the force of my tears.

The Doctor made no move to comfort me. He just stood there, staring at his bleeding hands.

Eternity passed before he spoke again.

"We have to keep moving." His voice was as dead as the planet we'd come from. "There's no hiding, only running."

I wiped snot and tears off my face with my sleeve. "Where?" my voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

"I don't know. I don't know how he knew where we'd be. And I'm not letting him kill anyone else in pursuit of me."

"Then we stay away from planets," I stood, sniffing.

"We'll lead him on a chase through space," the Doctor said.

I nodded. "For how long?"

The Doctor finally looked at me and his eyes filled with pity. "For as long as it takes. I'm sorry, Adalyn, but you can't go home now. If he followed you…"

My face went white and I nodded my understanding.

So we ran. We stayed away from populated areas, keeping to wastelands and the empty parts of space.

The Doctor guessed that the other Timelord was without a TARDIS and travelling with a vortex manipulator, so he built us each a device he called a Vortex Path-Scrambler.

"It basically breaks the energy trail we leave in the time vortex and splinters it into a million paths so that you can't tell which is the real one," he'd explained. Then he'd handed one to me and said, "In case we ever get split up, you take the TARDIS and run."

"That will never happen." I'd told him. But he made me promise to always carry it with me.

Even with the Path-Scrambler we knew we weren't safe, so we never stayed in one place for long. For almost a month we kept running. During that time the Doctor started training me how to protect my mind.

"The Master is a master of mind-control," he'd failed to notice the pun. "If anything ever happens, I want you to know how to protect yourself."

"But I'll have you."

"You'll always have me," he had promised, "this is just in case."

Twenty-nine days. We'd been on the run for twenty-nine days. We'd been traveling randomly, only setting perimeters to keep us away from civilization, so we weren't always sure where we were going to land.

In addition, we were getting tired. We hadn't gotten much rest and we were always tense and on the watch. The TARDIS was getting tired too. At first, we hardly even landed anywhere, but it wasn't sustainable for her so we had to start spending more time in every location.

It wasn't adventure anymore, it was survival, and the strain was getting worse every day.

We decided to step out of the TARDIS while she refreshed, but she'd landed wedged in a corridor so we had squeeze against the wall to get out.

The hall was dark except for dull red lights that pulsed on and off. The effect was eerie.

"Where are we?" I asked the Doctor.

"Not sure."

We walked down the hall and turned a corner into a room that was probably a mess hall.

"Please tell me this building is long abandoned." I said to the Doctor.

"Abandoned, but not for long I'd guess, given the emergency lights." He went over to a window. "But it's not a building."

I joined him and looked out into the stars. "Well, I guess she took us far away from civilization after all."

"Hm." The Doctor agreed.

I turned away from the window and sat at one of the tables, putting my head down on my arms and closing my eyes. I wanted to never move again.

"I wonder what happened here." The Doctor mused.

I didn't respond.

"Let's check it out."

I may have fallen asleep for a moment, because the Doctor was tapping my shoulder.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Mhh. Can we go back to the TARDIS?"

"Really?" he was surprised. "We've hardly left the TARDIS. You don't want to take a look around? Find out what's up with this place?"

I felt a wave of sympathy for my friend, who hated being cooped up. "Ok." I forced myself to stand.

We explored the ship for a bit, but we didn't learn much. It looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry, but we couldn't figure out why.

"The red light everywhere is giving me the creeps." I said.

"Look, a computer!" the Doctor ran over to it, "Maybe we can figure out what happened here."

I didn't even follow him. I felt a little guilty, but I didn't have the energy to care at this point.

"Huh."

"What is it?"

"This ship is on the verge of an explosion."

"Huh! How 'on the verge'?" I said with sarcastic casualness.

"Not sure. I'm not even sure why it's exploding."

"Then don't you think we should get out?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he responded distractedly. He had put on his dorky glasses and was crouching to look at something on the floor.

"Doctor!"

"Hm? Oh yes, sorry!"

"Thank you."

We started down the hall to get back to the TARDIS but the Doctor pulled aside halfway there to look at a computer.

"Just a second."

"Doctor!" Stress was making me short tempered.

"Maybe I can find out what's wrong." He started going through files faster than I could follow.

My skin was crawling from the heat and my heart was beating way to fast. The flashing red lights in the hall weren't doing anything to help.

"I found the ship's schematics."

"Wonderful."

"There's some kind of mess in the engine room. If I could get down there, I could probably stabilize it."

"We don't need to stabilize it, we need to get out of here!"

The Doctor was intently focused on the computer. "The computer is detecting something in the cargo bay."

"It doesn't matter."

"It's a life sign."

At this, I ran over and looked at the scan. "My god, that's a person." I turned to the Doctor in horror. "A person is stuck in the cargo bay of this exploding ship!"

The Doctor continued his scans, face grim. "It might not be a person. These computers are very old and the scan is inconclusive. It might be nothing more than an animal or even a plant."

My stomach was churning. I thought a moment. "What are the chances it's a person?"

"I'd say there's twenty to thirty percent chance," he answered. Then he held out his hand.

I looked at it. "What are we going to do?'

"I'm going to stabilize the ship and then I'm going down to the cargo bay." He said it with conviction. "If there's even a one percent chance that someone's trapped in this ship, then I can't leave until I've gotten answered that question and gotten that person to safety."

I was reminded once again of the kind of man I was traveling with and my heart swelled. I took his hand. "Then let's run."

We ran until we hit a door. I slammed the button but nothing happened.

"The system must be down," the Doctor said and pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started working at the door.

"Why isn't it working?" I asked after a bit.

"I don't know." He yanked off a wall panel and stuck his screwdriver in his mouth to free his hands. He reached in and started working through a mess of wires.

I wiped my arm across my damp forehead. It was frustrating to be on a ticking clock and be unable to help.

"Got it!" the Doctor yelled and started prying at the door.

I jumped in and with much grunting we got the door open just enough for us to squeeze through.

We had to do the same thing with the door to the engine room and when we did get it open a puff of toxic smelling smoke came through.

"We have to go fast," the Doctor warned and we slipped through.

The Doctor took in the room at a glance. "You close that vent –" he pointed, "I'll get the other."

I dashed into the thick smoke, trying not to breath it in and ignoring the stinging of my eyes. The vent was bigger than me and had to use all my weight against the lever to close it. As soon I did, though, the room seemed much clearer. I turned away and saw the Doctor across the room. I hurried to him.

"I'm almost done with this," he was bent over some pipes. "I couldn't do much for the cooler." He was fumbling to connect whatever he was holding so I pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket and shone a light at his work. "I honestly can't imagine how this kind of damage even happened."

He finished and wiped oily hands on his coat before taking the screwdriver back. "Thanks."

"Were you able to fix it?" I asked hopefully.

He shook his head. "It's unfixable, but I was able to temporarily stabilize it."

"How long do we have?"

"Forty minutes."

"That's good!"

"Except that there are thirty-six doors between us and the cargo bay."

My heart sank. The first two doors had taken us almost a minute each to open and we were already so tired. "What can we do?"

The Doctor was slumped in defeat. "We don't even know if there's a person in there. If there is, we have next to no chance of succeeding to rescue him."

All I wanted was to sit down and rest. I reached out and took the Doctor's hand.

"Then let's run."

He looked up at me.

"Twenty percent chance, right? Then let's run like it's one hundred."

The Doctor smiled proudly at me and squeezed my hand. "Let's run."

So we ran across the ship, opening door after door.

"Are you sure we're still going the right direction?" I asked weakly. We had gotten our door-opening time down to forty-six seconds and we were on door thirty-four.

The Doctor nodded tersely, his usually happy hair plastered depressingly to his head. "Timelords have eidetic memory. I still have the map in my head."

I nodded and continued holding the screwdriver up for light. After a moment I mused, "Isn't it weird that the system for the doors isn't functioning but the computer system was?"

"Got it!"

We both leapt into action and pried the door open. Once again, we sprinted down the corridors until we came to the next door. The Doctor ripped off the wall panel and I checked my watch.

"Four minutes, fifty seconds. We should have three minutes to get back to the TARDIS." My legs wobbled.

The Doctor grumbled, hands moving frantically, "If we have to carry the person we're going to be in big trouble."

"And if there isn't a person at all, I'm going to kill him for making us go to all this trouble."

The Doctor broke through and we ran to the last door.

"Four minutes exactly!" I gasped.

The Doctor scrambled to fix the wires and at three minutes, twenty-one seconds we pulled the door open and stepped into the cargo bay.

The red light was somewhat brighter in there, but it was a huge room and, of course, filled with cargo.

"You take this side." I waved to my right and started running through the maze of crates.

"Is anyone back here?" I called out. There was no answer. I kept looking. "Anyone here?"

"Hello?" a weak voice sounded not far away.

"Doctor, over here!" I yelled as I followed the voice. Three minutes, ten seconds.

"I'm here!" I heard again, this time very nearby.

"Coming! Don't worry!"

I turned the corner, running straight into the arms of the Master.

I stumbled back from him in horror. At the same time the Doctor ran around the other corner and stopped short at the sight of our enemy.

The Master smirked at me, before turning to the Doctor on his other side.

"Master," the Doctor whispered.

The other Timelord spread his arms and grinned. "Surprise!"

The Doctor and I looked at each other desperately, but there was no way for me to get to him with the Master standing between us. We were trapped. It had only been a matter of time.

The Master laughed joyfully. "To see you both running so hard, so concerned for the poor soul trapped at the bottom of an exploding ship."

"The computers." I stated dully.

"That's right. I needed the computers functional otherwise you never would have found me. But I had to make it hard somehow. It was too funny to see you two trying so hard to save me."

"You sabotaged the ship." The Doctor shook his head, "I should have seen it."

"You did." the Master pointed out. "You saw the blood and scrapes on the floor but then you got distracted."

I had distracted him. I'd been in such a hurry to get out, I hadn't asked what he was looking at. I covered my mouth with my hands.

"What happened to the crew?" I choked out.

The Master smiled sinisterly and my stomach flipped.

"Master, it doesn't have to be this way," the Doctor said quietly and calmly.

I looked at him in surprise but he was totally focused on the Master.

"I can help you. We don't have to be enemies."

_What are you saying?!_ I mouthed to the Doctor, but he wasn't paying attention to me at this point.

The Master rolled his eyes. "Oh for Gallifrey sake, you actually think I need you to be my savior? You make me want to throw up." He wrinkled his nose. "Seriously, Doctor, how did you get so pathetic?"

"Wherever you want to go, I can help you," the Doctor promised.

"There's only one thing I want you to do. Tell me:" he came nose to nose with the Doctor. "What happened to Gallifrey?"

I saw the Doctor's face twist in pain. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" his voice turned sharp.

I listened tensely.

"Gallifrey is gone." the Doctor said flatly.

"Gone?" he scoffed, "How can Gallifrey be gone?"

"The Time War ended. Both sides lost. Gallifrey burned."

The Master turned away from the Doctor and I saw his face, so full of grief. But only for a second.

"Then let's get to the point, shall we?" The Timelord turned on me.

"Just let her go," the Doctor reasoned, "You can have me, just let her go free."

The Master rolled his eyes. "Sure, it's not like this was the whole point."

"What is he talking about?" I asked the Doctor.

"I will stop you." All coaxing was gone from the Doctor's voice.

The Master snickered, "Ooh, now I'm scared."

"Tell me what's happening!" I tried to sound commanding and brave, but my words came out high-pitched from fear.

"Yes, Doctor." The Master moved close and put an arm around me companionably. My knees went weak and the room swirled. "Tell your little friend what's going on."

The Doctor froze.

"Fine! I will!" The Master exclaimed. He removed his arm from me and I nearly collapsed. He strutted toward the Doctor in preparation for his monologue but addressed me.

"You, my dear, are what this chase has been about. You see, the Doctor always picks up humans as pets and becomes attached to them. The problem is," he pulled a face of mock regret, "you humans are _super_ mortal. And if, heaven forbid, one you dies, it breaks his poor little hearts." He put his hand on his chest for dramatic effect.

"Oh!" was all I said. It made sense.

The Doctor continued to argue with his enemy but I closed my eyes and tuned them out. I knew we'd been playing a losing game, I just hadn't wanted to admit it. The whole thing was just entertainment for him – not just our efforts on this ship, but everything since we'd started running back in London. It was all a show: an elaborate play where we were unwitting puppets, and he was pulling our strings.

"We should go." I interrupted them.

"Go where?" the Master raised one eyebrow.

I shrugged, "You like a show. Whatever you have planned I don't think isn't going to happen here, in the dark." And it couldn't happen too soon. One minute, fifteen seconds.

The Master nodded, looking slightly impressed. "Good intuition."

"We aren't going anywhere with you." The Doctor straightened himself to his full height.

The Master smiled sympathetically. "No, you aren't. Just her."

The Doctor's face was transformed by horror, but for me the pieces were finally falling into place. It was never going to be me and the Doctor together against the Master. The two Timelords had an ancient rivalry and I was only a pawn in the fight. And now I knew how it had to end.

"Have fun following." The Master set the coordinates on his wrist device. "Remember, the longer you take, the longer she'll be alone with me."

"Doctor," I addressed my best friend, "don't follow."

Both Timelords looked at me in surprise.

"I don't want you to be trapped too. Following only plays straight into his hand. The only way to save yourself is to not follow."

The Master laughed. "You must really be an idiot to think the Doctor would ever abandon his companion."

"I don't think he would." I held the Doctor's eyes stubbornly. "I know he wouldn't. Because I've seen him lay down his life for complete strangers and I know he would do the same for me. But not this time." I raised my chin. "Don't follow me, Doctor. That's an order. For once let someone save you."

He looked like he would be sick.

"A moving speech," the Master complimented. "But completely in vain. Now, shall we?"

"No!" the Doctor lunged at the Master, who faster than light pulled something out of his coat pocket and shot a bolt of electricity at the Doctor. The Doctor was thrown back and I cried out his name.

"Nice little thing, isn't it?" the Master flipped the device in the air before pocketing it again. "Laser screwdriver: so much better than sonic." He grabbed my wrist roughly and I didn't fight.

Thirty-five seconds.

"I'm coming for you, Adalyn," the Doctor promised with a gasp. He was clutching his body and struggling to stand, but his eyes were on fire.

I swallowed to keep from crying. "No, you're not."

The Master activated his wrist device, and in a breath, we were traveling unprotected through the time vortex. My stomach was on the verge of rebellion, but I managed to reach inside my pocket and activate my Path-Scrambler.

With a jolt we exited the vortex, landing roughly in another place and time. As soon as I felt the stable ground beneath me, I let myself cry. The Master watched me for a minute.

"The Doctor will come, you know," he said.

I couldn't stop crying. "I know."

**I wrote this part listening to Tchaikovsky's "Hymn of the Cherubim". So perfect for this scene of desolation.**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Warning: physical and emotional abuse_**

Chapter 6

"The Doctor will come, you know."

"I know," I sobbed.

The Master looked down at me in disgust.

I could have wept forever, but he didn't let me. After only a few seconds the Master seized my wrist and yanked me roughly to my feet.

"Come on," he said, "I'm going to show you where we are."

He dragged me through several halls and up a long flight of stairs. I was still exhausted from running with the Doctor and the Master's long legs walked faster mine ever could, so I stumbled several times, but he kept pulling me along without pausing. When we finally reached a door at the top of the steps the Master stopped to straighten his tie.

"Here it is." He opened the door and pulled me out with him onto a runway full of airplanes.

I flinched against the wind. "An aircraft carrier?" I yelled over the sound of engines.

"Of sorts!" the Master yelled back. He dragged me to the edge of the runway where I looked down then pulled back sharply. We were in the air.

"The first flying aircraft carrier!" The Master shouted, pride in his voice. He tugged me back to the edge and I tried not to imagine falling all those miles to the ground.

"I designed it myself – every detail. I call her the _Valiant_. One of my first big accomplishments as England's prime minister."

I looked up at him in surprise.

"Pretty good, huh?" he grinned.

I shook my head in horror but didn't get a chance to respond because he grabbed my arm again and hauled me back inside.

He towed me through the first deck showing me the biggest rooms.

"What year is it?" I finally asked.

"2008."

I furrowed my brow. "But wouldn't I remember you being prime minister?"

The Master rolled his eyes. "Did you learn nothing from traveling with the Doctor? Time is in flux. History happens now." He shrugged, "Chances are, having had moderate exposure to the time vortex, you'll retain memories of both timelines."

My mouth formed a circle _"Oh."_ It made sense. "So what happens now?"  
The Master dramatically touched the palm of his hand to his forehead. "Where are my manners? Come."

To my surprise he didn't grab my arm again so I followed him cautiously down to ships lowest levels.

We went down a hall so narrow I had to walk directly behind the Timelord. He stopped halfway down the hall and put his hand on a doorknob.

"Your room: for as long as you're my guest." He smiled insincerely then opened the door.

I approached the door, taking care not to touch him, and poked my head in.

It was white. Starched white bedsheets blended into white concrete walls and a white linoleum floor. I stepped inside and the Master stepped in behind me.

A large vent in the ceiling blew cold air into the barren space. The bed took up nearly half of the room and there was nothing else.

"Bathroom there." The Master jerked his head toward what could be mistaken as a closet door. "Make yourself comfortable." He left and slammed the door behind him.

I had been so anxious to get away from him, but I wasn't prepared for being left alone in such a room. I wrapped my arms around myself as if that alone could guard me from the harshness of the place.

That's when I saw the window. It was small, but it was a real window to the real outside. I went over and looked out into the blue sky. Out of one corner I could barely see one of the ships huge propellers.

"I can live here," I murmured, a weak flutter of hope in my chest.

I pushed the bed against the wall to be near the light.

It didn't matter at that moment that I was being held prisoner by possibly the most dangerous man in the universe. I was exhausted. I crawled into the bed and fell asleep instantly.

When I woke the sky was fading from blue to pink. I sat up, groaning from stiffness in my back. The bed was awful.

I wasn't sure how long I'd be in this room, so I decided to practice my mind-guarding technique. I sat tall, closed my eyes, and remembered what the Doctor had taught me.

"_You won't be able to resist him if he gets in," _he'd said, _"so you have to make sure he never does."_

He had reached out then and touched my mind with his – something he'd never done before – and it was so gentle it surprised me. Still, I'd instinctively pulled back from the intimacy of a new consciousness in my mind.

"_It's ok," _he'd assured. _"I'm not going to hypnotize – I'm just here. Now I'm going to teach you how to get me out."_

We'd spent countless hours practicing together. He'd told me that the trick was to make a clear picture in my mind that couldn't be gotten around.

"_If he reaches out to your mind, all he'll be able to see is that image. But your image must be strong – unbreakable."_

I took a deep breath. _Breath in, breath out._

I began constructing walls around my mind. It was an image I'd chosen early in my training. Brick by brick, mortar in between. No cracks. If there was a single crack he could slip in, and I wasn't going to let that happen. So I built my walls.

I was startled out of my meditation by the door being suddenly thrown open. I sprang to my feet, ready for anything, but a man in a militaristic uniform stepped in, put a tray of food on the floor, and left, closing the door behind him.

I hesitated a minute, then cautiously approached the tray and crouched down to inspect it. There was a bowl of mashed potatoes and a plate with… something. I smelled, poked, and finally tasted the food. It seemed fine, but I decided to wait and see how my sample affected me. I wasn't hungry anyway.

I hadn't heard any click after the door was closed and it occurred to me the guard may have neglected to lock it. Although, now I thought about it, I wasn't entirely certain the Master locked had it in the first place.

I walked softly across the silent floor to the door and carefully tried the handle. The door opened with ease. My heart pounded – the possibility of escape reminding me of my danger.

I stepped into the hall and looked both ways. There was a loud humming, but I saw no one. I was near the end of the hall, so I decided to go down to the end first. I opened one more door on the left and found another room just like mine, small and white, but with no bed. I continued to the end of the hall into an enormous room. This was definitely the engine room, which explained the humming. An engine this complex should have had someone tending it, but oddly, no one was in there. I tried touching a controls panel and had to stifle a yelp when it gave me a small electrical shock. It seemed there were low-level energy force-fields around the controls. Smart. I looked around some more for a couple hours, but everything seemed tamper-proof. There was nothing I could do here.

I crept back down the narrow hall. Behind all the doors on my side were tiny white rooms. All the doors opposite were locked.

I continued exploring the ship, trying to ascertain what my situation was. When I went up to the next deck, I saw more men in uniform and I had to duck behind walls until they passed. My best guess was that they were soldiers or guards the Master had hired – or trapped.

I didn't want the Master to find out I'd left my room, and I'd been gone a long time now, so I headed back down. It was quite dark out my window, and I guessed it was almost midnight. I slipped under the stiff sheets but felt something jab my hip.

"What…" I sat up and pulled the Path-Scrambler out of my pocket. I opened it up and the inside was completely burnt – nothing salvageable. I looked at it sadly_._

_I made this choice_, I reminded myself. I sighed and let myself fall back onto the pillow. It wouldn't be forever; the Doctor would never give up on finding me. Yes, I told him not to follow, but when did he ever listen? My only hope and expectation was for my action to delay him. I could make it until then. I rolled over and fell asleep.

I woke the next morning to my door slamming open and I jumped up, heart thundering against my ribcage. Two of guards had entered and were standing stiffly, staring dead ahead.

"You will come with us," one of them stated.

I only hesitated a moment. Afterall, what choice did I have?

"Wait," I shakily threw my sweater over what I was wearing. Who knew where I was going or when I'd be back? "Ok."

I followed them to the uppermost deck where they led me down a carpeted hall I hadn't seen yet, to a stained wood door.

"Enter!" came the Master's voice from inside, before we had a chance to knock. One guard opened the door and walked me in.

The Time Lord sat behind a broad desk that faced the door. A window was directly behind him and the sun cast a glow around him which, with the serenity of his face, was reminiscent of a heavenly being.

He waved his hand and the guards left, closing the door behind them so I was left standing in front of the Master.

The second the door clicked his face broke into a childlike grin.

"What do you think of my office?"

"Um…good?" nervously.

He shrugged. "Eh, you're right."

I felt a ridiculous wave of relief.

The Master waved a hand at the chair on my side of the desk, and I looked at the chair uncertainly.

"It won't bite."

Confused by his friendliness, I sat across from the desk from the man who'd murdered millions.

"Why am I here?" I ventured warily.

"Because of the Doctor." He spun his desk chair from side to side. "You're just collateral damage – consequence of traveling with a dangerous man."

"Ok," I shook my head, "but what do you need me for?"

"Oh I don't need you. You're not important."

"That's not what you told the Doctor."

He stopped spinning, eyes darkened, "I told the Doctor what he needed to hear. The truth is you're only bait. After you've lured him here, you'll be useless."

His words chilled me to the bone. "And then what?"

He held my eyes, his face hard and cruel. "Then I kill you. Slowly. Painfully. While he watches."

My eyes widened with alarm.

His face split with a mad grin. "I'm kidding. Don't worry, I won't let you die, at least not right away. I don't want you to miss what I'm going to do to the Doctor."

I leapt out of my chair, but he moved with superhuman reflexes and in one motion grabbed my right wrist, twisted it roughly, and brought it slamming into the desk.

I cried out in pain.

"You'll leave when I say you can," he hissed, and pushed me back into the chair before letting go.

I whimpered and held my wrist. It was certainly strained; I hoped he hadn't damaged the tendon.

"Why?"

"Why?" he scoffed, "Because it's fun! Duh."

I shook my head incredulously. "You're crazy."

"I've been told." He smiled.

I laughed softly, despite the searing pain in my wrist.

"What?" he demanded.

I smirked up at him. "It's just that I've dealt with bullies before. And in the end: they always lose."

He smiled back and leaned over me menacingly.

"Bet."

Day three.

A guard knocked on my door.

"The Master commands your presence in conference room A."

I winced, but stood and walked past the guard, careful not to touch him.

He escorted me to the room and left. The Master was waiting with his back to me, staring out one of the windows, hands clasped behind his back. Always a pose.

"How –" he spoke slowly and deliberately, "does one hurt a Doctor? A man, sworn to protect and to heal, who would willingly sacrifice _himself_ for the people under his care."

I sighed impatiently.

"How do you hurt a man like that?" He finally turned around, "Except by hurting his friends?"

"Yeah, I know this part already. When the Doctor comes to save me, you're going to hurt us both. You've told me this before."

The Master shrugged, "But you don't know how."

"Please. Spare me the excitement." My voice dripped with sarcasm.

He laughed condescendingly. "It'll give you something to look forward to. These days of waiting can be so monotonous."

"What I'm going to do to the Doctor is based off something called the 'Lazarus project'. Have you heard of it?"

I shook my head.

"Then I'll leave it a surprise. But you—" he cupped my cheek and I flinched, "I have something special planned for you."

"Death?"

He laughed, "No, a project."

"Project?" the question slipped out before I could stop myself. I bit my tongue.

"Aww! So you do care! I'm touched."

I wrinkled my nose.

"Well you'll just have to wait to find out about it." He leaned in conspiratorially, "It's a surprise."

I sighed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can."

I shook my head "That's not a real answer."

He scowled. "Then to show him how stupidly weak he is. And that I hold all the power."

Day Five.

I continued practicing my mind-guarding technique every day to stay sharp. I also exercised. I'd spent so much time running with the Doctor that I'd become quite good, but it was harder on the Valiant. Still I exercised religiously because I never knew when I'd have the opportunity to escape or what form that escape would take and I had to be ready for anything.

Day Eight.

It was a huge aircraft and I knew it should need a whole crew just to keep it running, but the ship was eerily empty. As far as I could tell there were no passengers, no crew, and no other prisoners. It was just me, the Master, and maybe a dozen muscle men.

I was on the second deck when I saw a guard alone at his post. I looked around for other people, then cautiously approached him.

"Hey," I said softly, "I don't know how the Master forced you into this, but I think there's a way out."

The guard didn't turn his head and his expression didn't change. I continued quietly.

"I know he's powerful, but he's still only one man. If we all work together, we can beat him. We can get free."

Suddenly the man turned on me and in one swift motion tackled me to the ground, twisting my arms behind my back. I cried out in pain.

"That was a pathetic attempt."

My heart sank at the Master's voice. His black dress shoes came into my limited line of sight.

"Everyone on this ship is hypnotized – completely under my control."

I winced, both because of his words and because of the continued weight the guard was putting on my back and arms.

He sighed. "And you really thought you could get the better of me? That easily?" His voice was drenched with anger and annoyance. My heart pounded.

"You know what, I'm not going to tolerate this kind of troublemaking." He addressed the guard, "Give me your gun."

My heart jumped to my throat and my ears started ringing. Strange how in all those dangerous times with the Doctor I'd never truly believed I was about to die.

"No, please don't!" I begged wildly.

I heard the Master cock the gun.

"Please. Please. Please." My words tripped over each other. "Please, I don't want to die."

The gun fired and I felt the guard's body fall on me. For a second, I didn't understand what had happened, then I felt a warm liquid spread over me and some blood fell on the floor in front of me.

I gagged as the realization hit me, then I started sobbing. The worst part was that I was relieved. I was relieved that the guard had died instead of me, and it made me feel like a monster.

"Stop blubbering." The Master commanded, kicking the guard's body off of me. "It's your fault he's dead."

I didn't even try to get up. I laid there crying long after the Master had walked away. And I never approached the guards again.

Day Nine.

My door opened without warning making me jump to my feet. The Master strode in and I watched him warily, like a trapped deer would watch a hunter. He hadn't been to my room himself since the first day. He'd always sent his guards when he wanted me and I'd hoped it would stay that way.

He barely acknowledged me, instead he looked around the room curiously. He came over to my bed where I stood but I stayed frozen. Nonchalantly, he pulled my sheet off the bed and dropped it on the floor, then he lifted the mattress with his foot and looked under. Seeing nothing, he went into my bathroom. I didn't turn around, I just listened to him empty my shampoo into the toilet. When he came out, I was almost as angry as I was scared, but I still didn't move.

Finally he looked me in the eye.

"I think," he smirked, "you get the point."

I was too furious to speak and then he was gone.

I got the message. He was saying that everything I had was his. That I had nothing – not even personal space.

"He will lose." I whispered like a mantra. "The Doctor will come and the Master will lose."

Day Twelve.

"You realize you surrendering yourself was a waste?"

He never stopped. If only he would leave me alone.

"Nothing you do here matters. When the Doctor comes, I'll do what I want to him and all your suffering will be in vain."

"You know, I know what you're doing, and you won't kill my spirit."

"Kill your spirit?" he looked amused.

"You're playing a long game. Well, I can be patient too."

The Master tilted his head in consideration, then shrugged, "Well we can make it a short game," he reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out his laser screwdriver.

Terrified, I turned and bolted.

"Hey! Come back." the Master called – not angrily, but very persuasively.

I felt a presence brush against my mind and I recognized it from the night of the ball as the Master's. I froze. I remembered vividly how that night in London his words had flowed through my mind like a melody, lulling me into a trance.

"Come here."

The command was gentle, both audibly and mentally. I remembered my training with the Doctor and mentally pushed his voice away.

The Master chuckled softly. "The Doctor taught you some tricks I see. That should make our time together more fun." Then demandingly, "Come."

This time the pull was a little stronger. I threw up my mental walls, but the urge to obey persisted. I used every defense I had, holding my head as if I could keep him out physically, but he patiently increased his mental pull on me – reeling me in.

"One, two, three, four, five," I started counting aloud in desperation, but my words sounded fuzzy in my ears.

He pulled me to the edge of awareness – any further and he could make me do anything and I might not even realize it.

"Come here."

I stumbled toward him.

He nodded to the floor, "Sit."

I sat.

"Good." He pulled his mind away, keeping just a faint presence, and crouched in front of me. "You're very strong."

His fierce brown eyes looked curiously into mine and I found myself immediately enthralled by the deepness of them. The only eyes I'd encountered like this were the Doctor's. They were ancient and held such intense sorrow and pain it was staggering.

He grabbed my chin with his thumb and first finger and tilted my face up toward his.

"I like you. You've got a lot of fight."

He dropped my chin and stood. "It won't do you any good in the end, though. You don't stand a chance."

"So, you're going to kill me." I still felt weak from my mental battle and my voice came out hoarse.

"No! ugh, you're so daft. Where would be the fun in that? If you die now you're free – you basically win. The sport is to make you suffer, and by doing so," he grinned, "make your precious Doctor suffer."

He frowned suddenly, as if in pain, and put his fingers to his temples, bowing his head.

"What? What happened?" I asked in alarm.

"Nothing." He straightened and looked at me with contempt before turning his back on me. "Go away. Your stupidity is boring me."

I struggled to stand, but I didn't have the strength. I couldn't just stay – not when he'd told me to leave – so I dragged myself across the floor. He was watching me again. Hot tears of humiliation ran freely down my face. I wanted to redeem myself – to show myself physically strong since I'd proved to be so mentally weak. I wanted to stand up to him and make him stop bullying me. I wanted to hurt him back. But all I could do was crawl away.

Day fourteen.

I didn't meditate anymore. There was no point. He'd proven I could never beat him. My only weapons now were my words, and I knew some day I'd pay for them dearly, but I still spoke because I couldn't stop fighting him. It was all I had left.

Day Seventeen.

I couldn't sleep so I got up and started roaming the ship. I knew the entire ship by heart now and had no trouble navigating the dark halls. When I walked by the Master's office, I saw that the door was cracked open. No lights were on, but by the moonlight I could see him sitting on the floor, holding his head and rocking back and forth, then I heard a soft sob.

The Master was crying.

I gawked, staying carefully hidden in the shadows outside the door.

Day Twenty.

He was at it again.

"You're embarrassing. You know you can't escape, so you just sit and wait for the Doctor to come save you."

I pressed my lips tightly together. He was trying to upset me. I'd learned how manipulative the Master could be and I wasn't going to let him get through to me.

"I remember some of his old companions. Oh! They burned like suns! They changed the outcomes of worlds! But you," he glanced at me in disgust, "can't do anything."

_Don't react._

"You're like a weak little child, needing a grownup to take care of you. Is that why the Doctor travels with you? Out of pity because you can't take care of yourself?"

I bit the inside of my cheek hard, my pride smarting.

"But maybe that's over now," he mused. "Maybe he's changed his mind about you and doesn't want you back. Maybe he's abandoned you with me forever."

He'd hit the tender spot where the old wounds of betrayal were.

"The Doctor would never abandon me."

His eyes glinted. I bit my tongue and dropped my head, knowing I should have just kept my mouth shut. Now he knew where I was weak.

"I've wondered what's taking the Doctor so long, but if he doesn't care about you maybe he's not coming at all. But it would make sense. You're not special. You're nothing. I don't know why he didn't leave you on a desert island ages ago. Has anyone ever really cared for you?"

I shook with rage as he stabbed my old wounds again and again.

"Maybe he never intended to come at all. Afterall a willing sacrifice offered up, who would come?" he smirked. "He always intended to use you. He was going to betray you all along."

Finally I snapped.

"At least I don't sit on the floor of my office at night and cry like a three-year-old." I threw at him.

He froze in complete surprise. Then he actually laughed. He laughed like I'd said something funny. I didn't know what to do. A nervous chuckle escaped my lips.

The Master's laughter calmed and he sighed and smiled at me. Then his face contorted in anger and his hand flew at my face so hard, the blow threw me backwards onto the floor.

I gasped, momentarily unable to breath or see. My cheek didn't hurt yet – it was completely numb.

The Master's blurry figure came close and crouched in front of me. His hand came into focus and I threw up my arm for protection, but he brushed it away and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. His face still lacked definition, but his rage was clear.

"Don't… _ever_," his voice was soft, "mock your Master."

My eyes were locked onto his. I wanted to look away, but I was too terrified.

The Master changed his expression from anger to condescension. His hand shifted under my chin to tilt it up more gently. "I don't think we'll forget this lesson, now shall we?"

With effort I shook my head.

"Come on, you can say it," he encouraged. "Will you forget?"

"No," I croaked.

"No…?" he prompted.

"…No, Master." I whispered, sick to my stomach.

He smiled down at me.

The pain was setting in – a burning sensation from my temple to my chin. To my shame, I started crying.

The Master just watched.

Day Twenty-Two.

By avoiding the guards I managed to make it to the top of the ship-to the runway. Silently in the cold night I tried to commandeer a small plane. I hadn't even gotten it open when I heard yelling. I saw five guards running from the stairwell. I frantically redoubled my efforts to get the plane door open. The lock clicked and I threw open the door. As I was trying to scramble inside a hand grabbed me by the back of my shirt, yanked me out roughly and threw me on my back on the ground.

I groaned in pain and looked up. Shining in the moonlight, glaring down at me horribly was the face of the Master.

The guards were standing by now, guns held at attention.

"I told you once," the Master's voice was dark with rage. "that I wouldn't put up with this behavior."

I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry. "I'd rather risk my death in escape than stay here to be killed slowly by you."

"I know." He motioned with one finger and the first guard in line stepped forward.

The Master took the guard's gun and the next moment the man was bleeding out on the runway.

I rolled over into a fetal position to hide my face from it.

The Master nudged me with his foot. "Take a good look at what you've done." He tsked. "What would the Doctor think?"

"Clean that up," I heard him order.

Next moment he was yanking me to my feet by my hair braid. I gasped in pain and grabbed at my hair but I was already standing on my own feet.

He pressed his lips together angrily. "I'm not going kill to you, because that would still be an escape." He took my face roughly in his hands and I flinched at his touch. He turned my face to see the sweltering bruise from where he'd hit me two days before. My legs went weak at just the thought that he might hit me again. He held me for forever.

"You should put some ice on that." He walked away.

Day Twenty-Three.

The Valiant was inescapable. The Master was too smart. If his plan was to kill my hope it was working.

I stopped exploring the ship and kept to my room.

Day Thirty-Nine.

I opened my eyes and saw his figure in the darkness again.

"Why?" I asked, still groggy from sleep. I'd asked so many times.

"Because he deserves it. Payback's a bitch."

Day Eighty.

1My door opened and out of the corner of my eye I saw the Master came and stand in the doorway. I didn't move from my perch on the bed or look away from the window. We were both silent for several minutes. I didn't know why he'd come. I didn't care. I didn't have the energy to care anymore. Finally the Master sighed.

"It's been over two months."

I nodded.

"Almost three months."

"Two months, twenty days." I looked up. "It's October, right?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

I kept still and quiet, waiting.

The Master silently put his fist to the wall in frustration, them left the room.

I looked back out the window and mused wryly that it was the nicest conversation we'd ever had.

Day Eighty-two.

I'd been called to the office again. The Master started yelling at me as soon as I was in the room, "You!" He came within inches of my face and I flinched.

"It's your fault that the Doctor isn't here yet."

It was almost amusing that he hadn't figured it out sooner.

"Answer me this: did you scramble the paths in the vortex?"

I didn't dare lie. "Yes."

His lips twisted in anger and his eyes flashed. Instinctually, I pulled back and threw my arms up to protect my face.

When the blow didn't come, I lowered my arms to look. But his face had gone blank. I stood frozen, waiting.

"Leave now."

I was surprised, but not about to argue. I ran.

Once in the safety of my own room, I sunk down onto floor.

This was it, I suddenly realized. If the Master was that upset over what I'd done it meant there was a real possibility the Doctor would never find us.

Of course I hadn't wanted the Doctor to follow. I'd asked him to move on and I meant it. But I never really believed that he would listen or that the Path-Scrambler could slow him down for long. But now for the first time it occurred to me that he might never come for me.

The reality of my situation hit me. I belonged to the Master for the rest of my life. My life had ended the second we'd come to the Valiant.

I heard a strangled cry and realized a second later it had come from me. My heart exploded inside me and my sobs left me gasping for breath.

I was dead.

I was dead.

I. Was. Dead.

_Personal Note:_

_I know I haven't posted in forever but I won't make excuses. I've been dealing with depression and anxiety for several years and recently figured out I have OCD too. So life kind of sucks. One thing I've learned in my struggle with mental illness is not to make wild promises about doing better, so I can't tell y'all when I'll post again. I love you guys and I'm grateful for your support. I'm willing to bet some of you struggle with this stuff too, so I just want to say, you've got this. I recently dropped out of university and now I have a good job and I'm looking at apartments with a friend, so rebuilding is possible. Never give up 3_


	7. Chapter 7

Day one hundred.

One hundred is a big number. I wondered if I should do something special to commemorate it. I hadn't seen the Master since we'd put together that the Doctor wasn't coming. I guess that's worth celebrating.

Day One-Hundred and seven.

_ "You can't tell anyone," one excited girl said to the other. She looked up and down the school hallway before leaning in, eyes bright. "My dad's working on something big."_

_ "What do you mean?" the other girl's eyes grew big, "What is it?"_

_ "If I tell you, you can't tell _anyone_," the first girl impressed upon her companion._

_ "Cross my heart, hope to die." She drew a rapid X over her heart._

_ The first girl cupped her hand and whispered in her friend's ear:_

_ "My dad thinks he can prove time travel is possible."_

_ The second girl laughed as if at a joke and turned away. _

I lay on my back and drew pictures in the air. I missed drawing. What I would do for the pencils my mom had given me so long ago.

I drew the TARDIS. I would never see her again, and it hurt. I drew my mom. I missed her beautiful and kind face.

I remembered how she'd always taken care of us. Closing my eyes, I could almost hear her voice.

_"Girls can be mean. Never be mean. Be better." _Her words had given me what I needed to pick myself up after getting hurt by someone I'd thought was a friend.

Hannah was her name. I'd met her back when we kids were still in school, before things got bad.

I believed in the research my dad was doing and I'd told her about it in confidence, but she spread it around the school and made my family a laughingstock. I didn't even know what was happening until the principle asked to meet with me. Of course he'd only wanted to make sure I was ok and put an end to school rumors, but when I stood by what I'd said, that marked the beginning of our real problems in that school.

I had trusted her. I'd opened my heart to her and she turned on me.

_"Girls can be mean."_ Our family soon learned that many people were mean.

I rolled over on my side and felt a tear slip onto the flimsy pillow under my head. Even after all this time I still felt the cruelty and betrayal of what she'd done. It had broken my trust in a way that kept me from opening up to anyone else. I'd never made another friend. Not until the Doctor.

Him coming into my life was a second chance at everything. A second chance at friendship – with someone I knew could be trusted. A second shot with the world. Going into isolation had been hard for my whole family, but while they were mostly content to research and write in private, I longed to interact with the world. I craved partnership in my work. And most of all I wanted to _experience_ the world. To see the history I studied for myself. Travelling with the Doctor had made that dream happen in a way I hadn't thought possible.

I turned over onto my side. It would have been better if I'd stayed home.

Day One-Hundred and Eight.

Sharp pain in my arm forced me out of a fitful sleep. I whimpered sleepily, not wanting to face the morning light, but the pain was insistent and forced me awake.

I opened my eyes. It was still dark. Still night. I shifted and winced. There was definitely something on my left arm. Sitting up, I squinted at it, trying to see, then held it up to my window and gasped. Even in the pale light I could see the white and red of eight horizontal cuts, perfectly straight, on the underside of my arm from my wrist to past my elbow. I started to cry softly – not from the pain, but from the cruelty of it.

Holding my arm out in front of me, I got out of bed. It was strange that there was no blood, like they had already partially healed. Nevertheless, I wanted to cover it, if for nothing else than for my own peace, so I found my extra shirt and with effort, tore it into strips. I had nothing to put on the cuts, but I tied up my arm with the bandages anyway, just to cover them. It was more difficult than I thought it'd be and the wrappings were bulky, but I finally crawled back into bed, pulling my blanket over my head. I held my bandaged arm close to my body, cradling it. Comforting it, like I wished someone could comfort me.

Day one-hundred-twelve.

Still no word from the Master. It was unlike him not to gloat, but maybe this would be his new torture: to hurt me in my sleep and let me find the damage to my body on my own. He sickened me.

Day One-hundred-fifteen.

One morning I was woken early by banging on my door. I leapt into a defensive position and the door was thrown open by two guards who walked in and without pause grabbed my arms.

"Where are you taking me? What's going on?" I demanded.

They didn't answer, but escorted me out, through the halls, and to the ship's deck. There was the Master.

He gloated over me a moment and I glared back. If hate could burn, he would be dead.

"Let her go."

The guards released my arms. I hurried to tug my long sleeve down. I didn't want the Master to see the scars he'd made.

"Leave us," the Master commanded with a dismissive wave.

They obeyed and a moment later I was alone with the Master.

He circled me slowly, like a cat that has its prey caught but still wants to toy with it.

Eventually he looked me full in the face and smiled. "It's the big day!"

He laughed wildly and clapped his hands. Almost, he looked like a child on his birthday, jumping in innocent and gleeful anticipation for the surprises of the day. Almost.

"Well? Don't you want to know what my big plan is?"

"Wasn't your 'big plan' kind of messed up by the Doctor's no-show?"

He spread his hand with a shrug. "I'm flexible."

I shrugged, still avoiding looking at him. "So you're gonna kill me. Only question is why you waited this long."

"Now, just because the Doctor can't watch doesn't mean you don't still get to try the experiment."

"Yay." I said flatly.

"Actually it is pretty fascinating. It's a program I've spent years designing and it's one of my finest works. I'm really quite proud." He examined his fingernails. "And the cool thing is I've managed to boil down the software and download it into _voila_." He produced the laser screwdriver out of his pocket.

I flinched involuntarily.

"You know," the Master fiddled with the deadly device, "French doesn't really suit me. It's too Doctor-y. There's got to be some other good sort of announce-y word. Maybe 'ta-da' or 'hey presto!'"

I didn't react and the Master pouted. "Well you could at least try to look the tiniest bit impressed."

"What does this program do?" I asked.

"Well I could explain it to you, but that would take some of the fun out of it. After polishing the final design I worked very hard to program it specially to fit you and I would like it to be a surprise."

"You made it for me?"

"Of course!" he plastered concern on his face. "I'm so sorry if I haven't made this clear already, but you are…very… _dear _to me."

The sarcastic laugh burst out of me unbidden.

"Truly!" he insisted. "I've never had a human before. And you've been ever so interesting."

I stared him straight in the eyes. "I hate you."

He smiled, and it may have been the first sincere smile I'd ever seen on him.

"Good."

I wished I had something clever to say – something that would really, finally, hurt him.

"Let's get on with it." I said dully.

"You're the one that said it!" he grabbed the screwdriver and twisted for the right setting.

I shuddered despite myself.

"So I'll be honest, I'm really not sure what this might do to you if it doesn't work." He grinned wickedly. "But I'm fairly confident it'll be far more diverting if it does."

My heart raced, but I planted my feet and thrust out my chin, determined not to give him the pleasure of seeing my fear.

The Master raised the screwdriver and pointed it at me.

I closed my eyes in preparation for the end and thought of my family.

"Say goodbye to everything you are."

Then he shot me.

When the laser first hit me it felt like electricity. Everything burned. Then a sensation like stabbing icicles began in my lungs making every breathe hell. Almost instantly the pain drove me to my knees. My heart pounded wildly and I hugged my knees, desperate to stop the pain. I suddenly realized I'd been screaming.

As that was happening came the images. Blood and centuries, daleks and war, the end and still time spinning on. All of space…

Then the pain came full force and somehow forced me to stand. Every inch of skin, every vein, every organ, roaring, searing, slashing, stabbing pain.

And there was fire. So much fire.

After an eternity the flames died and I fell to the ground, incapable of movement or speech. The Master crouched next to me.

"I've given you some old memories," he murmured, "and something else: a timelord consciousness."

His smirk was audible.

"I've made you a monster like me."


	8. Chapter 8

I stayed curled up on the ground long after the Master had gone. Maybe an hour maybe two. I figured I was in shock since I couldn't move, but all my senses were heightened. I could smell the burns on my clothes, and my own smell, and under that the smell of the Master, all still hanging in the air. I could taste them in the air too. It was disgusting.  
I could vividly remember the pain from when the laser hit me. Some of it was still there. The burning, the cold, the confusion, and all the memories. Such horrible memories.

It had seemed like it would never stop, but it finally did, and I had fallen to the ground, unable to move, or think. I remembered clearly, though, the Master coming close and bending down to whisper in my ear.

_"I've given you some old memories, and something else: a__ Timelord consciousness."_

I knew it was true. I was tortured by the gory memories alone, but the weight of my sharpened awareness was overwhelming to the point that I wanted to die just so it would be over.

Now I felt the air stir, just barely, and thought I must be imagining it, but then I heard a familiar sound. It was the most beautiful sound in the universe: the whooshing of the TARDIS. Then I heard a voice calling what was once my name.

"Adalyn!"

A second later the Doctor's arms were around me and I gasped, my lungs swelling as if taking in air for the first time.

He was holding me, comforting me, protecting me. But it made no difference; the damage was done.

Now he was trying to lift me up. "You need to get in the TARDIS. Quickly now!"

I hadn't said a word or even looked at his face.

"Adalyn!" he said urgently and lifted my face. As soon as our eyes met, I saw the fire in my eyes reflected in his, and I dropped my gaze in shame. He saw it too and drew back in horror.

"What has he done to you?" he whispered.

I couldn't answer. I huddled back into myself.

The Doctor was silent, but then I felt his gentle presence in my mind.

_It's alright. I'm here and I will take care of you._

I felt his arms around me again as he scooped me up and cradled me close to his chest like a small child. He carried me into the TARDIS and set me down on the floor. I could sense the TARDIS' deep concern as she nudged at my consciousness, but I shut her out of my head and burrowed deeper into myself.

_I'm taking us away from here. _The Doctor's mind reached out to mine again. _Don't be scared; I'm not leaving you._

I drew some comfort from his presence. The words themselves meant little at this point.

I could make out the TARDIS moving, then he came and picked me up again. I struggled to understand what was going on. He was going to carry me somewhere – no, that was happening now. What was the difference between now and then?

I sunk into something soft and then his fingers gently touched my temples.

_Sleep. _ The command washed softly through my mind. Peaceful darkness claimed me.

I was in my bed. No, this wasn't my bed. I opened my eyes and blinked in the soft light.

_I'm here._

The Doctor was by my side.

_You can talk to me this way. Just think whatever you want to say._

_Where am I? _I asked.

_You're in the TARDIS med-bay. You are completely safe._

Fire raged through my brain again and I flinched away in pain.

_ Sleep. _The Doctor's voice soothed over the pain. _Sleep._

The next time I woke my mind felt clearer. I cautiously opened my eyes and looked around. Everything stood out sharply, but it wasn't overwhelming. I was on a small raised bed in a softly lit room filled with medical equipment. The Doctor was sleeping in a chair in the corner. I lifted my hand to touch my face and realized I could move again. Groaning, I sat up on the bed.

The Doctor woke instantly and came over. _Are you alright?_

I could sense his concern.

"Yeah." My voice was hoarse from disuse, but it was my voice and I was relieved to hear it.

The Doctor looked relieved too. He took my hand.

"How are you feeling?"

I grimaced and he flinched before I realized I'd just telepathically shoved an impression of my feelings on him.

"Sorry! Sorry." I winced, putting a hand to my head. "Sorry."

"It's ok," he reassured. "I'm sure it will take some time to get used to."

I was silent, wondering how much he already knew.

The Doctor sat next to me. "How much can you remember?"

"I remember all of it." I said dully.

"Then I need you to tell me," he said gently. "I'm sorry, but it's important I know everything that happened."

I sighed, "The Master said –" I saw the Master in front of me with the laser screwdriver and I screamed and huddled into a ball. "He's here!" I panicked.

"No, no, no, no, no, he's not here!" the Doctor held me.

"I – I saw him." I looked around in confusion. I was in the med-bay again but my body was still shaking.

"The Timelord retina is capable of processing information independently of the brain," the Doctor explained. "You're developing eidetic memory."

I focused on stabilizing my breathing. My lungs felt weird. Since when could I feel my lungs?

"That," the Doctor continued, "plus your brain is still learning the difference between past and present. So your new eye-brain presented old information – like a video recording – and your brain-brain thought the events you were seeing were currently happening."

"Makes sense," I mumbled.

"I'm so, so sorry. I should have been there sooner. You were never supposed to have to endure him – endure this."

I turned my face away to hide my emotions.

"If I'd been even a few hours sooner I could have prevented this. But the Master," he ground out the words, "created false trails – probably with_ your_ Path Scrambler. It took me days to find you."

_Days. _ Incredible how short a time it had been for him.

We were silent a moment before I took a deep breath, "So. You know what happened."

He grimaced sympathetically. "I've got a pretty good idea."

"The Master said he'd given me a Timelord consciousness."

"Well it's not quite that simple, you see, it's more of a reflection of the Timelord consciousness. Your brain is developing some of the instincts and abilities, but it's still fundamentally human."

"What about the rest of me?" I asked.

"I was able to do some preliminary scans while you were sleeping, but I'd like to do more now you're awake. If that's ok?"

I nodded and the Doctor pulled out some medical equipment.

"Your basic anatomy is unchanged and you're fundamentally healthy, so it's just the brain that was altered."

He scanned my head and frowned darkly. "Blimey." He pulled a small device out of the med kit. "This'll just tingle a bit." He gently stuck it onto my forehead, and I felt a painless zap. "It's monitoring your brainwaves," he explained. "Aaand," he removed it, "they are all over the place."

He pulled a syringe from the box. "Last thing is I want to check your blood. It won't even hurt." He gently took my left arm, but I pulled away violently.

"What?" he asked, alarmed.

"Just… don't." I muttered.

"Listen Adalyn, I'm sorry I have to do all this, I really am. I'm sure it's not what you need right now. But we need to find out as much as possible."

I didn't respond. I just turned my face away.

"Ok." The Doctor sounded unsure, but he proceeded, taking my arm and pushing up my sleeve.

"What-" he began to unwrap the messy bandages and I heard him hiss in anger.

When he spoke it was in the soft tones of controlled rage.

"Did he do this to you?"

I nodded, still not looking.

The Doctor was still for a moment, then he switched the needle for another device.

"It's a dermal regenerator," he said. "It can heal bruises and cuts that don't go to the deepest layers of the skin."

The device beeped very slowly as he ran it over my arm.

"The Master didn't use the Path Scrambler," I blurted. "I did."

Shocked silence.

"Why?"

I whispered. "Because I told you not to follow."

More silence.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok," he repeated more surely. "Whatever else it was, your action was good-hearted, and noble, and brave, and above all selfless. I wish with all my hearts you hadn't done it, but I don't want you blaming yourself, because everything that happened is on the Master and on me. You never should have been in that situation." He paused, thinking. "And just so you know, I would have failed you anyway. There was a temporal block on your location so that even once I found you, I couldn't have gotten in a moment earlier in your timestream."

"Oh." I said dully. "I guess I didn't do anything after all."

The dermal regenerator changed tones and then stopped beeping altogether.

"Well that's weird."

At this I finally turned toward him. "What?"

"The regenerator isn't doing anything."

"Maybe it's broken."

"Maybe." The Doctor frowned. "The thing is, though, it's not that it isn't healing the cuts, it's that it's acting like there are no cuts to heal." He took out the scanner he had used before and held it in front of my arm. "This too. It's like the cuts aren't even there."

"Whatever." I pulled my sleeve down and stood.

"Whatever?"

"It doesn't really matter. He's done his damage. What are a few scars on my arm?"

"Adalyn-"

"Just…don't." I turned my back on him.

He was quiet a moment, then I heard him stand and come close. He put his hand on my shoulder.

"I know this is a painful adjustment…"

I laughed callously and spun around. "You just don't get it, do you? Adalyn is _dead_. The Master killed her. I –" I reeled in revulsion, "–am a monster. The Master stripped away everything I was, leaving behind a shell that he filled with a crude copy of glory." My words tasted like vomit. "I'm _nothing_, do you hear me? _ Nothing_. I'm an abomination – a mockery of human and timelord." I sat on the floor and hugged myself. "I used to think the worst he could do to me was take my life. I was so wrong. Death would be a mercy compared to this."

I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. "Look at me, Doctor," I whispered angrily. "Look into my eyes and see what I've become. Behold my shame."

I heard the Doctor kneel in front of me and felt his hand on my chin. Gently he tilted my face up and looked into my eyes. All I could see in his was compassion.

"You. Are. Beautiful." He said.

I couldn't understand what I was hearing.

"I see your intelligence, your skill, your kindness, your immense bravery."

"No," I whispered shaking my head, unable to believe, "you're wrong about me."

"I look at you and see the amazing human girl I met that summer so long ago. I also see a reflection of the Timelord mind in all it's complexity. I see so, so much potential in you."

"How?" the tears were finally coming.

"Because the Master is smart and powerful, but even he doesn't have what it takes to change who you are."

"I… don't feel like the same person." I struggled to get the words out. "I can't imagine any future for myself. I mean, I don't even know who I am."

The doctor was quiet for a moment. Then suddenly he said, "Ok." And got up.

"What?"

"Gotta show you something." He set new coordinates and the TARDIS flew there.

He went to the door and put his hand on the handle.

"Come take a look."

I sighed but stood and came over.

He pushed both doors open and I gasped in awe at a starry sky.

"Recognize it?"

"Yeah." I said softly, "it's the same star system you showed me when I first met you. Almost a year ago."

"What do you think?"  
"I think… it looks different."

1"It looks different because your mind sees things like a Time Lord now. This is what I see every time I look at the stars. We feel planets spinning underneath our feet. We see time. We know what must and must not happen for time to continue. This..." he looked out at the glowing lights, "is what it is.

"It's …" he considered. "It's like you were sitting in what you thought was a small room, with only a candle for light, now your eyes are opened and you _see_ the world that has always been around you.

"You're still you. You're still the wonderful girl I met a ten months ago. The girl who stood up to me when she thought I intended to murder the zygons. The girl who stood in her back yard and agreed to come on an adventure with me. The girl who gave up everything to try to save me. But this. _This _is what it means to be a timelord."

His eyes silently pleaded for me to understand. "The universe is beautiful, will you come see it with me, Adalyn, Youngest of Time Lords?"

I looked out at the stars again. "I don't know," I said softly. Then I turned to face him. "But I can try." I took his hand in mine and smiled faintly. The Doctor smiled back.


End file.
